Revenge
by sailorraven34
Summary: Raven has been crippled and captured by Gayle but still believes that Nero is coming to rescue her. But Nero not only holds her accountable for the near destruction of H.I.V.E. but also believes that she is dead and he is responsible. Sequel to Runaway and Return.
1. Off in Ravenland

Raven sat up, rubbing her head. She'd been dreaming of Nyss again… about when they were little, before Furan had showed up and ruined her life. She missed her little sister so much…

"You okay?" Gayle mumbled.

"Go back to sleep and dream about someone who actually likes you." Raven snapped.

"'S not very nice."

"Abducting someone and forcing them to marry you isn't very nice either." she muttered darkly.

"Whu?"

"Sleep, Gayle." Raven yawned. "Before I knock you out."

She wished she could get out of bed and run, go somewhere where Gayle couldn't find her… but Nero could. But her legs were shattered, permanently injured by her fall down the stairs back at H.I.V.E.

_Odd how I always finish these adventures seriously screwed up and generally with a new baby._

Three new babies, actually. There was Nero's son… she never did give him a name… but she had no idea if he was alive or not. And Gayle had forced her to have Theo, and then Em a year ago. She hadn't seen the point of resisting. Max was going to come and save her. Surely he'd seen that her fall had been an accident, that she hadn't meant to destroy his school. And she was sure that he had escaped from Overlord... probably taking Shelby, Laura, Otto, Wing and their son Adrian with him. He was probably just having a problem finding her. After all, Gayle's base was probably hidden somewhere very secret.

_Nyss._ Her daughter, named after her younger sister was around here somewhere… probably causing trouble. She seemed to have some sort of special relationship with Anastasia, which Raven didn't like, but it kept her from getting sent where her namesake had gone.

BANG!

The door to their room crashed open, and Nyss stumbled in. Gayle sat up. "Arrg- what the f-"

"Nyssa?!" Raven's face was red from anger and embarrassment as she pulled the covers up to her chin to hide herself.

"Sorry." Nyss shrugged. "I thought it was closed… so I was just gonna knock… but it wasn't." She nodded, like this explained everything. She was nine years old now, and it was clear she was going to be just as beautiful as her mother.

Gayle sighed. "Well… I might as well get up." He climbed out of bed and started getting dressed.

"Hello?" Raven snapped.

"I'll go get your wheel chair." Nyss said, darting off.

Raven sighed. She hated being so helpless… having to depend on Nyss and Gayle… especially Gayle. And she wanted her own room… or a room with Max. And she wanted to wear pants again, instead of the flimsy clothes Gayle had her wear. But there wasn't anything she could do about it, until Max came for her.

"Mum?" Nyss waved her hand in front of her face. "So, is it okay?"

"What?" Raven frowned. "Oh, sure, yeah."

"Great!" Nyss beamed as she helped her mother up. "Thanks!"

Raven sat down as she rushed off. She noticed Gayle staring at her.

"What?" Raven snapped, bristling.

"You just agreed to let her go on an assassination mission." Gayle said.

"What?! No I didn't!"

"Had anyone ever told you that you never listen when people talk to you?" Gayle said. "You go off to Raven land or something…"

"Yes… people have told me that." Raven bit her lip as she thought of Nero. "Bother." She started to move the wheelchair, then crossed her arms. "Gayle, push me."

"What? But you hate it when I push you!"

"But I'm tired…" Raven gave Gayle her most winning smile. "Pleeeease?"

"Okay okay fine." Gayle sighed. "You really should pay attention to people. Usually when they talk to you, it means they have something to say."

"I know that." Raven said. "Quit annoying me over it, okay?"

"I wasn't annoying you. I was just saying…"

"Well, it's annoying me, so leave me alone." Raven crossed her arms and lapsed into grumpy silence. Gayle sighed, squeezing her shoulder.

"Stop that too." Raven snapped.

"Stop what?"

"Being so affectionate. It's annoying."

"I can't help it. I love you."

"No, you don't." Raven sighed. "Where'd Nyss go? How did she move so fast?"

"You're faster when you push yourself." Gayle muttered.

"But I don't want to!"

"I've heard." Gayle sighed. "Come on-"

His phone beeped. Gayle pulled it out of his pocket. "There's an intruder."

"An intruder? Who?"

"Well, we'll find out." Gayle said.

"I have to go find Nyss, don't I?" Raven said.

"This is important, Natalya. I have to go see what this is about." Gayle snapped.

"But- but-" Raven sighed. "Fine… I'll do it myself."

###

Laura spun around in front of the mirror. "How do I look?"

"Great." Shelby yawned. "Can we get to my dress already?"

"How come you love wearing clothes, but you won't help me with the biggest dress I'm ever going to have?" Laura put her hands on her hips.

"That doesn't even make sense!"  
"You know what I'm talking about." Laura said. "This is my _wedding_, for crying out loud."

"Yeah, and it's not for _two months_, for crying out loud." Shelby yawned again.

"More like _one and a half weeks!" _Laura spluttered.

Shelby sat up. "What?"

"I _tried_ to tell you…" Laura sighed.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Shelby jumped up. "MAKEOVER TIME!"

"What?!" Laura tried to squirm away, but Shelby tackled her to the floor. "Noooo!"


	2. Dreaming

**Nyss **

I yawned as I sat down on the couch. Anastasia looked at me. "Something wrong?"

"Nope." I said. "Just tired. From, you know. Training."

"Oh." Anastasia smiled. "So what did your mother say?"

BANG!

Speak of the devil. Or, er, ninja.

My mother was in the doorway, breathing hard. I wasn't sure why, because it looked like Gayle had pushed her the whole way here. But whatever.

"Nyssa..." she said. "Can you come here, please?"

"Sure." I stood up, sitting down on my mom's lap. She hugged me.

"Nyssa... I love you, but you're driving me crazy! You need to stay away from Anastasia! FAR away."

"She's just training me, mom. So I can fight like you." I bit my lip, frustrated. "I'm old enough, mom."

"Old enough for murder?" Raven spat. "Over my dead body. You listen to me, Nyssa."

"I'm getting a brother or sister, aren't I?" I said. "That's why you're panicking."

"I-"

"That's a good idea." Gayle said. "Doesn't that sound like fun, Natalya?"

"No." my mom snapped. "NOT a good idea. Knock it off, Gayle." She turned her glare on me. "Nyssa. You are not going on that assassination mission."

"WHAT?!" I spluttered. "But you said-"

"I didn't know what you were talking about before. It's an absolute no." My mom folded her arms. "Now come on."

"No." I said.

She narrowed her eyes. "What was that?"

"I said NO." I jumped off her lap. "I WANNA GO!" I stomped my foot.

"NYSSA MARIANNA N-"

Gayle put a hand on my mother's shoulder. "Let her go, Natalya."

"I'd rather die then see her kill someone." My mom snarled. "You know that."

"She's not going to kill anyone, Natalya." Gayle looked at Anastasia. "Right?"

"Right." Anastasia said. She didn't seem fazed by the interruption at all- in fact, she looked like she was enjoying herself.

"But that's the fun part!" I yelled.

My mom smacked the top of my head.

"OW!" I ran over to go stand next to Anastasia. The actual blow hadn't hurt that much… it was more of the _fact_ that she'd hit me.

"Never, ever say anything like that again." My mother's voice was icily calm. "_Ever_."

"I HATE YOU!" I yelled, and shoved past my parents and out the door. I ran through the hall. I could hear Gayle calling after me but I didn't care.

I came to a door. I opened it and started climbing up the flight of stairs behind it. The stairs went on seemingly forever, then stopped abruptly at a trap door. I yanked it open and looked around. I was on the roof of our living quarters. I looked around and spotted the barracks. I half wished that I could go there and meet other people my age. The only other non-adults I was allowed to see were my half-siblings Em and Theo, and they were both so little that they weren't much fun to play with. They weren't out in the courtyard today. I sat down on the ground and opened a metal box sitting next to me. I pulled out a couple of crackers and ate them. I took a sip of water from a bottle also inside the box, and then pulled out a book. A photo album. It contained pictures of me and my brother Adrian, and my dad, Dr. Nero. I leafed through the well-worn pages, bored. But I didn't want to go downstairs and face what I had done…

Why had I said that? Why had my mom trying to look out for me inflamed me like that? I didn't understand my own feelings and actions. If only I had been thinking… then I might have done something differently.

I sighed. Enough brooding. Time to take action.

So I jumped off the roof.

###

Laura collapsed onto her bed, sighing. Otto looked up from the book he was reading, then frowned. "Is that… blood all over your hands?"

"Uh… no." Laura rubbed her forehead, staining her hands with the thick layer of makeup Shelby had applied. "Shelby got a little… over-enthustiastic with the nail polish."

"I'm going to guess that she finally figured out that the wedding is in nine days." Otto said.

"Yep." Laura rolled over and buried her face in his shoulder. "Excited?"

"I'm more excited for the honeymoon." Otto grinned.

"That should worry me." Laura muttered.

"Oh, come on." Otto said. "Quit acting all innocent, because you've got just as much experience as I have-"

"Shush." Laura said, smiling.

"We're going to have kids of our own soon." Otto whispered in her ear. "So we can stop borrowing Raven's-"

"Aw, but Raven's are cute!" Laura protested.

"Ours'll be cuter." Otto cupped her face in his hands. "How can they not be, with you as their mom?"

"Oh, stop it." Laura said. She sat up. "Adrian? Is that you?"

Raven's son came in.

"Um…" he said. "You told me to tell you if I had any strange dreams."

"So…. did you?" Laura said. "Who about?"

She, Otto and Nero had concluded years ago that when Adrian had a dream about a real person, it meant that it was going to become real, usually very soon. She couldn't help being a little bit nervous. _What now?_

"You." Adrian said. "You… gave birth. To twin boys."

"Crap." Otto muttered.

"What do you mean by that?" Laura said, glaring at him.

"That just sounds very annoying." Otto shrugged. He looked at Adrian. "That's all?"

"No." Adrian said. "After that… you died."

Otto grabbed Laura's shoulder. "Then we won't have kids. Not if it means losing you." He seemed to be trying to take it in.

Laura bit her lip. "I think it might be too late for that…"


	3. Escaping Fate

**Adrian**

I looked from Laura to Otto, not quite understanding what was going on.

"What are you talking about?" Otto asked.

"I was talking to the doctor and I think we're getting a little one, Otto." Laura sounded tired and worried.

"We'll deal with this later." Otto said. "Adrian... Laura, can you tuck him into bed?"

"I can do it myself." I said, and slipped out of the room. But I didn't go to bed. I started towards my father's office.

Laura and Otto, who'd looked after me for years had told me that the school had once been in a volcano. I wasn't sure where it was now, but I knew it was underground somewhere. Sometimes I could hear trains from somewhere far away. I'd never lived anywhere else. I'd never seen the outside world, and neither had my brother Felix.

I entered my dad's office hesitantly. After my mother had killed herself when I was little… he hadn't exactly been the greatest dad. Instead he'd given me to Laura and Otto to raise, and mostly ignored me and my brother. He worked all the time to hide his grief. But he did listen whenever I have a problem.

He was asleep at the desk when I came in.

"Dad?" I called.

He sat up. "Adrian. Is something wrong?"

"Laura and Otto are freaking out over a dream I had." I said.

"A dream?" Nero shrugged. "Well, they're stressed out right now. They're about to make a pretty big step."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." I sighed. "Are you going to be there?"

"Sorry, no." He turned the page on the report he was reading. "I have a meeting that day."

"You sure go to meetings a lot." I observed.

"I have a lot to do. I have a whole school of teenage villains to run, don't I?" He looked at me irritably. "Adrian, it's getting late. Don't you have things to do?"

"Goodnight." I turned around and walked back to my room. I slammed the door and flopped down on my bed. Why couldn't he just be like a normal father?

I dreamed of a girl my age with long dark hair. She was falling off of a tower. A few feet from the ground, she reached out and snatched at a metal bar attached to the building. She swung there for a moment, then dropped to the ground.

She walked back into the tower and started walking up the stairs until she was in a bedroom. She flopped down on the bed. "Stupid parents." She muttered.

A little boy pushed open the door. "Nyssa?"

Nyssa? That was my sister's name…

"Leave me alone, Theo!" She sounded cross.

"But I want to play!"

"I don't care!" Nyssa yelled. "Get out of my room!"

Theo stomped his foot, then rushed away. A man poked his head into Nyssa's room.

"Don't take it out on him." He said. "Or your mother."

"But she wouldn't let me do what I want!"

"Nyss, if we let you do what you wanted the whole world would implode." He laughed. Nyss just glared at him. "Ask your mother to tell you her story. Then you'll understand."

Nyss sighed. "Okay, okay. Fine."

###

"You think." Otto said. "So you aren't sure."

"Maybe not one hundred percent… but I have all the symptoms and we've been sleeping together so much lately… we could have easily forgotten to use something once…"

"I was careful! Really, really careful! I didn't want what happened before to happen again…" Otto looked away, knowing that they were both thinking of their tiny, frail daughter who had died before she was a week old.

"But it doesn't matter so much because in nine days we'll be together, remember?" Laura said gently. "Besides, Adrian said I'd die giving birth… he didn't say it was to my first-born child or not-"

"Did you miss the part about you dying?!" Otto spluttered.

"No." Laura snapped. "I'm just trying not to think about it, is that acceptable?"

"Yes." Otto put his arms around her neck. "I just-"

"I get why you're freaking out." Laura said calmly. "But I don't want this to ruin everything for us."

"Having you die is definitely going to ruin everything!" Otto spluttered. "If this is what's going to happen… then maybe we should stop seeing each other-" He stopped when he saw Laura's expression. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

"This isn't something you can change, Otto." Laura said. "Even if you try to stop it, somehow it'll happen anyway."

"Great." Otto sighed, then stood up. "I'm going to my room."

"What?" Laura said. "But you always stay here!"

"I just said that I'm going." Otto snapped. "Don't be so pushy."

"I'm not being pushy!" Laura said. "I was just wondering why you were changing your behavior-"

"I need some time to think, okay?" Otto snapped.

"Okay." Laura turned away from him. "Fine. Whatever you say, Otto."

Otto stepped out into the hallway. He felt kind of mad, mostly at himself. He was so absorbed in his thinking that he didn't see Dahlia until he had nearly run her over.

She was lying on the floor of the hallway. He knelt down next to her. "Hey, are you okay?"

Her eyelids flickered open. "What? Oh, hi, Otto…" She tried to push herself up but her arms gave out underneath her weight.

"I'm going to take you to the hospital." Otto said. "Come on."

He scooped Dahlia up. She collapsed gratefully into his arms. As he started walking, he didn't notice Laura staring at him from her doorway, her arms crossed.


	4. Deadly Cookies

"_Hello." Anastasia sat down and set a plate of cookies next to her. Alexei looked up at her, shifting the sleeping girl on his lap._

"_Cookies? Are you trying to make up for earlier or something, Anastasia?" _

"_I suppose." She gave her brother her sweetest smile. "Try one?"_

_Alexei picked up a cookie and bit into it. "Chocolate?"_

"_Yep." Anastasia took one for herself but didn't eat it. "Does Natalya want one?"_

"_No, she can't stand chocolate." Alexei ruffled his daughter's hair. Natalya buried her face in his shirt. Anastasia glared at the child. She disliked Natalya for reasons she couldn't understand._

_Alexei took another bite. Then he started to cough. And cough. And cough. Natalya opened her eyes._

"_Daddy?"_

_Alexei coughed again, then fell backwards off the chair and landed on the floor, dead._

_Anastasia grabbed Natalya and opened the door to Alexei's room. Pietor was waiting for her outside. _

"_Is it done?"_

"_Obviously, he'd never trust him with his precious Natalya otherwise." Anastasia rolled her eyes. "He's turned her into such a little brat!"_

"_Where's Mum?" Natalya demanded. "I don't like you! Put me down!"_

"_You _are_ a brat." Anastasia sighed. "Stop talking or I'll knock you unconscious. I have people to kill- I don't have time for a mewling thing like you."_

_Natalya stared at her for a moment, then burst into tears._

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Anastasia whirled on Gayle. "Shut her up already!"

"I'm sorry!" Gayle rocked his daughter back and forth. "She's hungry and I can't find Natalya anywhere!"

"Go look." Anastasia cradled her head in her hands. "Before my head explodes.

Gayle stood up and started off.

Nyss came in. "Hi. Um… I just wanted to check when we were going on that assassination mission.

"In nine days." Anastasia said. "So make sure you're ready."

"And, er, who are we killing?" Nyss asked.

"Her name is Dahlia Alto." Anastasia said. "She'll be at her brother's wedding."

"Okay then." Nyss smiled. "I can't wait!"

###

Dahlia stood up. "Really, it's fine, Otto. I just skipped a few meals, that's all."

"Why?" Otto said. "You don't need it." He looked up and down Dahlia's hourglass figure.

"Otto…" Dahlia sighed. "It wasn't on purpose. It was because I was busy."

"Busy doing what?" Otto said. "You graduated two years ago-"

"Working!" Dahlia snapped. "For Nero! I'm doing half his paperwork these days because he's too drunk to do it himself-"

She covered her mouth with her hand. "Er… never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Forgetting." Otto said. "Um… I think Laura's going to have a baby. Or, Laura thinks Laura's going to have a baby…"

"Really?! Wow, that's great!" Dahlia giggled. "You guys move fast with each other, huh…."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Otto snapped, miffed.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing." Dahlia said. "Er… at least I don't think it is."

"It is." Otto said. "Because Adrian says she's going to die giving birth, and now I don't know what to do… and I think Laura thinks I'm mad at her now."

"And you aren't?"

"No way!" Otto spluttered. "If anything I love her more now…"

"Well, we all seem to be destined to have interesting love lifes." Dahlia laughed. "Ah well, never a dull moment…"

"A dull moment sounds sort of great right now." Otto muttered.

Unfortunately, he didn't get any for the next few days. He barely had any time to talk to Laura, either, because of the exams. Because it was their final year, they were harder than ever. It didn't help that she seemed to be avoiding him. He tried to ask Shelby why, but she was treating him with an icy indifference. Which meant that Laura had told her about the baby, and now Shelby was mad at him…

Dahlia sighed as they sat across from each other at lunch. "Just go _talk_ to her, Otto!"

"But she's going to yell at me." Otto said. He stared down at his spaghetti. "I just know it."

"Unless she's had a recent personality transplant, no, she won't." Dahlia sighed. "C'mon. Man up."

"Man up?" Otto sighed. "Okay, okay, fine."

"_Thank_ you." Dahlia pushed him out of his seat. "Now go, go!"

Otto walked over to where Laura was sitting with Wing, Shelby, Nigel and Franz. "Uh… can we talk?"

"Talk?" Laura stood up. "Talking sounds boring…" She stood up and kissed him. Otto grabbed her and kissed back.

"Ugh, get a room." Shelby muttered.

"Well, they seem to have made up." Nigel observed.

"Yeah." Shelby looked away, lost in thought.

"Tomorrow we get to leave this place." Franz said. "It feels very weird to me."

"Yeah." Nigel said.

"And then…" _And then what? Wing and I will be in separate places… and we don't have what Laura and Otto have… we've never even…_ Without warning, she burst into tears.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Nigel said.

"That was being sudden and unexpected." Franz said. "I think I will get another cookie."

He stood up and left. Nigel followed him.

Shelby and Wing sat there awkwardly.

"Are you feeling all right?" Wing said finally.

"Yeah, I just…" Shelby trailed off. "I'm just…" She started crying again. Laura heard her and came over.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "You're crying…" And with that Laura burst into tears.

"Oh, for crying out loud." Otto said. "Er… pardon the pun…."

"Sorry." Laura said. "Hormones."

"You have an excuse…" Otto turned to Shelby. "So what's up?"

"Nothing." Shelby said. "Nothing important anyway."


	5. Good Night

Raven closed her book when she heard soft footsteps behind her. She looked up and saw Furan with a woman she'd never seen before. Her long dark hair tumbled over her shoulders, and her skin was much tanner then Raven's. Her voice was soft and strangely familiar.

"I told you I don't like you being here, Penny." Furan said. He had his arm around her shoulder.

"And I told you I don't like being away from you for so long…" The woman smiled. "Or away from Serena."

"She's almost full-grown by now." Furan said.

"Exactly why I don't want to miss a moment."

"_Penelope…_"

Penelope laughed and spun around. "Oh?" She had noticed Raven. "Who's that?"

"I have no clue." Furan said uneasily. "Come on-"

"You're acting odd." Penelope started towards Raven. "Hello?"

Furan grabbed her and spun her into him. Their lips met. (Raven shuddered. _I'd rather kiss a crocodile._)

"Come on, Penny." he said. "Why don't we go and find Serena?"

"But I don't want to- I want to-"

He started dragging her away. She stumbled, and he caught her before she fell.  
"You okay?"

"Yes…"

"I know something that'll cheer you up…" Furan stroked her long hair.

"Oh, _honestly._" Penelope scoffed.

"I feel so sorry for you." Raven said loudly. "That really was a pathetic attempt at bringing _that_ into the conversation, and I'm married to Gayle Goodeman."

"Raven, shut up." Furan snarled.

"Why should I?" Raven spun her wheelchair around.

"I like your spirit." said Penelope. "Your name is… Raven?"

"Yeah." Raven said.

"Penelope, I said I don't want you to talk to her!" Furan hissed.

"I can do what I want!" Penelope hissed. Raven noticed she had gray eyes- like her sister, Nyss…

Actually, Penelope's eyes were exactly like Nyss down to the last fleck of green. O-kay… well, she'd seen weirder.

"Please! This is for your own good." Furan begged. Raven glanced at him. He actually seemed sincere. But she still hated him, so she pressed on.

"Do you live here?" she asked.

"No." Penelope shrugged. "My daughter does, though."

"His daughter?" She pointed to Furan.

"Yeah. I…" Penelope frowned. "You look-"

Furan grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. She crumpled to the floor.

"There is a far gentler way of knocking her out, you know." Raven said.

"YOU DON'T TALK TO HER!" He grabbed her by the collar, hoisting her up and off her feet. A small shriek escaped her. "YOU DON'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME, YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

"Take her away from you? I-"

"SHUT UP!" He backhanded her across the jaw. She fell to the floor, struggling to get up.

"You're coming with Ana on the assassination mission in two days." He growled.

"What?! But I-"

Furan picked up Penelope's crumpled body and started off.

###

Shelby shut the door to her room and stomped her foot.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" she bellowed. Laura and Otto broke away from each other, both their faces going rather red.

"Are you okay?" Laura asked.

"You two are so… stupid!" She whirled around and banged the door open, then slammed it again.

"Er… didn't she just slam it-" Otto started.

"_Don't_." Laura muttered. "Not now." She nuzzled her head against his chin.

Otto hesitated.

"Oh, come on." Laura said. "Don't tell me you're suddenly reserved about this kind of-"

"Okay, okay!"

###

Shelby crossed her arms and stared out into the hallway.

"Shelby?"

She turned around and saw Wing.

"Yeah?" she said in her coolest voice.

"Are you alright? You have seemed… upset lately."

"I…" Shelby looked at her feet. "Um… can I sleep over tonight?"

"Certainly. You can have Otto's bed-"

"No." Shelby blurted. "That's not what I meant."

Wing frowned. "In that case, no."

"What?"

"I said no." Wing turned to go back into his room. "Goodnight."

###

"Raven?" Gayle scooped her up like a child. "What happened? Why are you on the floor?"

"I'm not totally sure, actually." Raven said.

"You know, I think it's about time we had another kid." Galye said.

"No." growled Raven.

"What?" Gayle made a pouting face.

"I'm about to go on a mission." Raven said. "I don't really want to spend it throwing up."

"After?"

"No." said Raven. "Because it's making me weaker and weaker… I think if it happens one more time it might just kill me."

"That's a pathetic excuse."

"What else am I supposed to say. I just don't want to?!" Raven growled. "We already know that you don't accept that as an excuse…"

"Wow, you're right." Gayle smiled. "You are pathetic."

"That's not what I said. And why are you so _mean_ sometimes, Gayle?"

"Mean?" Gayle blinked. "I'm not mean."

"You just said I was pathetic. That's called _being mean_."

"Well, you are. I'm just saying the truth."

"There are some things you just don't come out and say to people." Raven hissed.

"What about Nero? And what he made you do when you first met?" Gayle huffed.

"That's ancient history. Dead and buried. We _love_ each other."

"Don't be so sure of that." Gayle said.

"What." Raven said flatly.

"What what?" Gayle said.

"You have that look you always get when you know something that's going to annoy me and/or make me upset." Raven snapped. "So go ahead and spit it out already."

"You're so predictable." Gayle smiled. "I knew you wouldn't be able to stand the suspense. Okay. You know who Dahlia Alto is, correct?"

"Yeah, she's Anke's daughter."

"And she's good looking, right?"

"I suppose…"

"And she's Nero's new 'secretary', right?"

"Ri- wait, what?!" Raven's face went white as a sheet. "Are you implying that-"

Gayle smiled at her knowingly.

Raven swore, then burst into tears.


	6. Elimination

**The end of this chapter isn't as well-written as I wanted it to be... sorry!**

"Why did you knock me out?"

The little girl squealed as Furan picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. She had long dark hair, very pale skin and ice blue eyes.

"There are some things you don't want to know." Furan said. "Knowing about Raven Goodeman would only hurt you, Penny."

"She's married to Gayle Goodeman?" Penelope snorted. "I feel sorry for her. That guy's a per-"

"Little ears." Furan pulled the girl off his shoulder and spun her around.

"Pshaw." said Penelope. "Besides, you swear around her at least twice a day… usually more."

"In Russian. Which she doesn't speak."

"Serena, come here." Penelope said sweetly. The little girl obeyed, but Furan grabbed her leg.

"You aren't going anywhere." He said, grinning. "I've captured you and now you're all mine…"

Serena squealed and made a desperate lunge for Penelope. Furan's grip slipped, and she fell into Penelope's arms.

"Is Daddy annoying you?" Penelope said, glaring at Furan.

"Are you two being stupid?" Anastasia said mockingly. Furan glared at her.

"When did you get here?"

"She's a ninja." Penelope smirked. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes." Anastasia said.

"Okay, well, ninja or not, we're having family time." Furan snapped.

"Last time I checked, I was family." Anastasia smiled sweetly. "Hello, Serena."

Serena blushed and hid behind Penelope's leg.

"Yeah, run away from her." Furan said.

"You're just _so_ funny today." Anastasia crossed her arms. "Look, I'm getting rid of Gayle tomorrow."

"Er… why?" Furan said.

"Because he's unpredictable." Anastasia said. "Don't worry. Overlord will be fine."

"Overlord?" Penelope said. "Who's-"

"I require your daughter." Anastasia held out her arms. "Hand her over."

"Serena?!" Penelope grabbed the little girl. "No! She's mine!"

Furan looked torn. Anastasia took another step. "I _promise _that she will not be hurt." She said.

"I'm still not letting a b-" Penelope glanced at Serena. "a _mean person_ like you take my daughter!"

"Anastasia…" Furan pleaded. "Can't you use one of the Glasshouse children? Or Theo Goodeman?"

"Why do you care?" Anastasia said flatly.

"Because she's my daughter." Furan said. "And it's a miracle that she was able to be born, given me and Penelope's ages…"

"But why do you care about someone who has only ever given you trouble?" Anastasia put her hand on Furan's shoulder and lowered her voice. "And if you don't, your girlfriend might gain some serious health problems. I hear notbreathing can really mess up a relationship."

Furan narrowed his eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

"Am I?" Anastasia repeated.

Furan stood still for a moment, torn between his sister and his daughter.

"Okay." he said finally. "You can have her."

###

**Nyss**

I walked into my parent's room. My mother was sitting by the wall, crying. Her face was ashen except for the livid bruise on one cheek. Gayle was nowhere to be found.

"Mum?" I said.

She looked up and forced a smile. "Hey."

"Mum, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Get out." said a voice. I looked behind my shoulder and saw Gayle.

"But I-"

"I said get _out_!" Gayle bellowed.

I turned and scampered away from him, feeling awful. He shut the door behind him and I heard him hiss "What did you tell her?"

"Nothing- NOTHING, I SWEAR- KYAAAAA!"

I clapped my hand over my mouth. _He's hitting her…?_

Then someone pushed me out of the way. It was a guard. He opened the door. There were more guards behind him. I was shoved into the wall. What was going on?  
I watched as Gayle and Raven were dragged out of the room.

"Good to see you." said Anastasia, emerging out of the knot of guards. I noticed that two of the other guards were holding Theo and Em.

"What's going on, Anastasia?" I asked. She ignored me, turning to the guards.

"Take them to where I told you to." She said.

"Wait! Stop!" I screamed as my mother was dragged away from me.

Anastasia turned to me.

"Her too."

###

Raven landed hard on the floor. She looked around. The room was horribly familiar, made of cement with high walls. She could see an elevated platform at the other end of the room.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She looked harder. Wolves. Big ones, but very, very skinny, their eyes glowing red.

"Natalya!" Gayle passed her Em and picked her up. "Come on!"

The wolves had started to come closer to them. She understood what Anastasia was trying to do. _They're going to kill us… or maybe even eat us, that's the sort of sick thing she'd do…_

Gayle started running towards the platform, Nyss following and carrying Theo. Raven looked over Gayle's shoulder and saw that they were being followed. And the wolves were fast.

"They're coming after us!" she called.

Gayle swore. They reached the platform with barely a foot of a lead. Nyss scrambled up and Raven passed Em to her. Then she realized she had no way of getting to safety.

"Natalya, come on!" Gayle yelled. He looked behind him nervously. He only had a few seconds before he was attacked.

"I can't-"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Gayle yelled. He threw her up towards the platform. She slammed into Nyss, knocking them both sideways. Raven scrambled to the edge and reached out to Gayle.

"Sorry…" Gayle said. "I can't-"

Raven reached out as far as she could. She wasn't sure why, but all of the sudden she could smell blood. For a moment, their fingertips touched. Gayle smiled. He said something, but she couldn't hear.

Then he was torn away from her.


	7. Suicude

Shelby was startled by the sounds of Laura screaming. She slowly opened up the door and realized that Otto was just tickling her.

"Stop! STOP!" Laura pushed him off her.

"Oh, come on." Otto said. He started playing with her hair, pressing long strands to his lips.

"I don't mean stop being like that, I meant stop tickling me!" Laura sighed. "_Geez_."

"Okay, okay, sorry." Otto kissed her forehead. He looked up suddenly, like something had startled him. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah." Laura said. "Shelby? Is that you?"

Shelby came into the room, crying.

"Is something wrong?" Laura said gently.

"It's not fair." Shelby muttered.

"What's not fair?" Laura asked.

"That you guys have a relationship like this…" Shelby collapsed onto the bed next to her. "And Wing won't let me… won't let me…" She couldn't finish.

"I'm sorry but…" Otto shrugged. "I don't have any control over what Wing wants or don't want to do."

"No, I'm pretty sure it had something to do with me… like I'm not good enough…" She leaned against Laura shoulder.

"I'm sure that's not it." Laura said.

"Even it isn't me, we're going to be separated soon… what if everything falls apart?" Shelby rubbed her eyes. "I-"

BANG!

Otto stood up. "That sounded like a gunshot…"

Laura darted into the hallway. "Oh, god. Otto-"

Otto was already pushing past her. _"Dahlia!_"

###

"_Gayle !" she screamed, leaning closer to the edge. One of her legs slipped off, dangling. She tried to move it back but wasn't fast enough. Before she knew what she was doing, she was dragged off the platform, Theo in her arms. She closed her eyes and screamed as he was torn from her-_

She was lying on a cold leather seat, her head in someone's lap. _Was it all just a dream?_

"Oh, you're awake." Furan said coldly.

"Why are you-" Raven tried to sit up, but she had no strength.

"Hey." Said a slightly familiar voice. Raven looked up and saw the woman from before… Penelope. To her surprise, she leaned down and kissed Furan.

"You rescued me? That's peculiar. I thought you'd leave me to die."

"Shut up, Natalya." Furan hissed.

"Nata..lya?" Penelope whispered.

"That's my name." Raven said irritably.

"Oh my god." Penelope whispered.

Her fist slammed into Furan's jaw, knocking him backwards. "YOU TOLD ME SHE DIED!" she yelled. "DID YOU LIE ABOUT NYSSA TOO?! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!?"

"Nyssa is dead." Furan said. "She-" he pointed to Raven "-murdered her."

"On accident." Raven growled. "Er… who are you talking about? How do you know about me and my sister?"

"I'm talking about people I thought died with my husband." Penelope grabbed Furan by the collar and slammed him into the wall.

"Your… husband? So were Nyss and I-"

"My daughters." Penelope whispered.

###

Dahlia was lying on the ground with a silver pistol cradled in one hand, a dark stain growing on her white blouse.

Otto tuned to Laura. "Get a doctor over here!" He scooped Dahlia up and carried her carefully into his room, laying her down on the bed.

"She… shot herself?" Shelby whispered.

"Sure looks like it." Otto cupped Dahlia's chin in his hands. "Hey. Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open.

"Why'd you do that?" Otto said gently.

Dahlia shook her head, then closed her eyes again.

"Dahlia? Dahlia?!" Otto grabbed her wrist. Nothing. He slowly let go of her.

"Is she-" Laura said.

"Yeah." Otto muttered.

"Wow." Laura frowned. "But she seemed fine the last time we talked…"

"I know, I thought… I thought she was fine too…" Otto walked over to stand next to Laura, slipping his arms around her. "Geez…" he mumbled, pressing his face against her head.

"You all right?"

"Yeah." Otto said. "I'm fine, I guess…"

Laura slid her backbox into her pocket. "The doctors will be here in a minute… but I guess it's no use if she's dead."

"We should get you checked out, though." Otto said. "Check if you really are knocked up."

"That's a good idea." Laura said. "But we can always do that later…"

"I want to know." Otto said. "I don't want to have gotten all worked up over nothing…"

"Well… okay then." Laura smiled. "I guess it will be good to know…"

Shelby sighed. "Okay, you two can keep going and being all lovey-dovey- Wing?"

He was standing behind her looking… more serious than usual. She flushed.

"I thought that was you." He said quietly.

"What?" Shelby asked.

"I thought you'd…"

"I wouldn't try to kill myself! Especially not over _that_!" Shelby sighed.

"I have a reason, you know." Wing said. "It's not that I don't love you."

"I figured." Shelby said.

"I just… wanted you to know." Wing shrugged. Shelby smiled and leaned forward-

"What's the big commotion?" said Nero's voice. They both jumped.

"Dahlia shot herself." Wing said.

"What?!" Nero took a step back. "Oh, no…" He put his head in his hands. "This is all my fault…"

"Did something happen?" Otto asked.

"I… I kissed her." Nero muttered.

"What?!" Laura spluttered. "But she's only a few years older then us…"

"I wasn't myself." Nero muttered.

"So you were drunk." Otto hissed.

Nero looked up at him. "I-"

"Don't go attacking him." Laura said, squeezing Otto's hand.

"Dahlia is dead because of him!" Otto yelled, jerking away from him. "And I bet he's the reason why Raven jumped, too!"

"Raven didn't jump."

They all turned to look at Wing.

"Then how'd she end up falling down the stairs?" Otto said.

Wing pointed at Nero.

"He pushed her."


	8. An Attack and a Suprise

Laura blushed as she stared into the mirror. "That's… really weird, Shelby."

"What? I'm just telling the truth!" Shelby said. "This is what happens when-"

"Okay, that's enough." Laura said firmly. She gave her hair one last brush, then set it down and put on her headband. "I look okay, right?"

Shelby nodded. "You don't even look pregnant."

"Shelby, shut up!" Laura punched her in the shoulder. "Besides, we don't even know for sure!"

"Knowing Otto, it is for sure." Shelby rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you don't have to get all defensive. It's okay."

"Laura?"

She turned around and saw her father. "Ready?" he asked.

Laura smiled. "Yep."

###

Anastasia opened the door. Instantly, everyone in the building turned to look at her. The girl with the red hair standing at the end of the isle screamed and clutched at the man net to her, staring at the gun in Anastasia's hand.

Anastasia pointed at the man next to her and fired several times. The girl threw herself in front of him, blood staining the front of her white dress. She collapsed into him. The man cried out. Anastasia ignored them, scanning the building. Where was Nero? She couldn't see him anywhere!

"He's not here."

Anastasia glared at Raven. "You be silent."

"He's not here… but the four most irritating H.I.V.E. students I know are." Raven said happily. "And if I know them, their skills will have only improved in the past few years…."

"Shut UP!" Anastasia yelled, knocking Raven off of her wheelchair and onto the floor. She shot her in the side, then looked up. Maybe he was hiding somewhere-

The next thing she knew, she was knocked to the ground. Nyss stood over her, glaring at her. "How could you do that?" she snarled. "That's my mother!"

"You want to know about her?" Anastasia snarled. "She's a freak. She has no friends, and no one cares about her because she's stupid and selfish. She pretends to be above everyone, but that's because she's so messed up if she let her true colors show-"

Nyss punched her in the jaw. "_I_ care about her!" she yelled. "And you're going to-"

Suddenly someone lifted her up by the collar. She kicked, but Furan just smiled at her. "You know, you're a little older then Serena." he said. "And you probably don't deserve to die… but neither did she."

He threw her. She hit the ground and heard something crack, probably a rib. She couldn't breathe.

"Nyssa!"

There was a bang, and Furan was thrown backwards, blood trickling down his forehead from the bullet hole. Otto slung Nyss over his shoulder next to Laura as he burst through the doors. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she yelled.

He set her down outside, pulling out his phone. "There isn't a hospital near here… they'll have to send a helicopter." He pulled open the front of the front of the girl's "Damn… she's hit bad…"

"Who is she?" Nyss said. "I never met her before."

"Oh, this is Laura." Otto sighed. "Normally she's funner then this…"

He dialed a number and started talking to someone. A boy grabbed Nyss's arm. "Are you alright?"

"Adrian?" she gasped.

"Nyssa?!" he spluttered.

"Wheee!" sang the little boy next to him. "Explosions and bazookas and gunfire, oh my!"

Nyss gave Adrian a Look.

"Oh, this is Felix." He picked up the little boy. "He's our brother."

"We have a sister too. Her name is Em." Nyss shrugged. "I have no idea where she is, though. She could be dead. And there was another boy, Theo… but he's dead." She shuddered, then gasped.

"You aren't okay, are you?" Adrian said.

"I'll be just fine." Nyss said. "After I get to the hospital, I guess…"

Then she passed out.

###

Otto paced nervously outside of Laura's room.

"Stop that." Shelby snapped.

"She was shot like ten times and it was ten minutes before I could get her to help." Otto snapped. "I'm scared, okay?"

"That doesn't mean you have to wear a grove in the floor." Shelby growled. "Besides, you're making me dizzy."

"I am _so_ sorry." Otto grunted.

Shelby opened her mouth, but Wing grabbed her arm. "Don't. It's not worth it."

"But-"

"Shelby." He said. Then he leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Shelby blushed. "O-okay…"

The door opened, and a doctor came out. "She's done with surgery. You can go in now, but not for very long."

"Is she all right?" Otto asked.

"She's stable."

"What about the baby?" Otto asked, sounding increasingly frightened.

He shook his head.

"Does she know?" Otto asked, pointing to Laura's door.

"No."

"I'll go tell her." Otto said.

"No, not now, she's too weak." Shelby said. "She can't handle something like that at the moment. Tell her once she's recovered some." She sighed. "I can't believe she lost the baby…"

"No." said the doctor. "I mean there _is_ no baby. She's not pregnant."

"Oh." Otto said. Then he frowned. "What the-"

"Well… you never did know for sure, did you?" Wing asked.

"No, but… she seemed so…" Otto sighed. "I'm going to tell her, I can't keep something this big from her."

"If she dies of shock, it's your fault." Shelby growled.

Otto went into Laura's room. She was ashen, her hands clasped over her chest.

"Don't do that, you look like you're dead." Otto said.

"Oh… sorry…" She sat up. "Mm… hey, Otto. Looks like our honeymoon plans are completely derailed…"

"That's fine." Otto said. "Look… I don't know how to say this, but…"

"It's the baby, isn't it?" Laura asked.

"Yes." Otto said. "Laura, you aren't pregnant."

"Oh." Laura sat still for a moment, then burst into tears. Otto sat down next to her, but Laura tugged at his sleeve. "No, come closer."

Otto sighed, then slid into the bed next to her. Laura buried her head in his chest.

"Hey, are you okay?" Otto said.

"Yes." Laura smiled. "We can always try again…"


	9. Secrets and Lies

_Something wet kissed her face. She looked up. She wasn't sure if it was raining or hailing or snowing, but she knew she was cold to the bone. Was she losing her touch? She knew she'd survived much worse._

_Max. She was going to see Max._

"Anastasia. Wake up."

She yawned. "Good to see you again. You know, I really don't appreciate it when people tie me to chairs…"

"And I don't appreciate it when people shoot my students." Nero snapped.

"You shouldn't get so attached to teenagers, then." Anastasia yawned again. "You know that your little girlfriend is alive, right?"

"Yes." Nero said.

"But not very faithful." Anastasia smiled. "Judging by what she and Gayle were getting up to…"

"Please shut up." Raven grunted from the corner.

"Oh, I didn't see you there. I probably would have heard you, though… you can't get around as quietly as you used to, can you?"

Raven closed her eyes.

_It was dark in the hospital room, and every inch of her body hurt. But nothing caused more pain then the expression on Nero's face._

"_Children with Gayle?" he repeated. _

"_You don't understand! He forced me to-"_

"_So you faked your death so you could have an affair with him?!"_

"_No, I-"_

"_I can't even look at you, Natalya." Nero growled. "Why would you do this?"  
"I didn't-"_

"_I'm going to go now." Nero stood up. "It's over, Natalya."_

"What, are you having a flashback?" Anastasia said. "That's very irritating, seeing as none of us can see your memory…" She smiled. "Well, I have a surprise for you… your husband is just as bad as you are."

"It was only one time!" Nero growled.

"Only one time?!" Raven said in shock. "You two-"

"It was when he sent you off to that party." Anastasia said. "Do you remember?"

Raven shuddered_. _

"_And what if he asks me to stay for the night?"_

"_Go ahead."_

"_This might be our last chance, Natalya."_

"_Take it off or you'll burn."_

"_Are you crazy? No!"_

"_I knew it." Gayle said. "You really do like me, don't you?"_

_She wasn't sure where he had come from, but he turned off the water and forced her to her feet, wrapping a towel around her shoulders. "Natalya? Something wrong?"_

_Raven shook her head. _

"_You sure?" Nero said. His expression was so kind she couldn't bear to tell him of her treachery. So she just buried herself in his shoulder and sobbed. _

"Again, with the flashbacks?" Anastasia said.

"How could I _not_ remember?" Raven whispered.

"I came by when you were gone." Anastasia said.

"You're lying!" Raven yelled.

"No, she's not." Nero said. "And it's really none of your business."

"I… you did that behind my back!?" Raven whispered.

"Tell her about Dahlia Malpense." Anastasia sang happily.

"I waited for you!" Raven screamed. "And you… never… came…" She burst into tears.

"Oh, stop doing that." Nero said. "You can be such a baby sometimes, you know."

Raven wiped her eyes before she left the room.

"Wait- I didn't mean-" Nero yelled

"Oh it's too late." Anastasia said. "I think you can pretty much guarantee that she hates you now."

"Why did you have to go and bring all of that up?" Nero hissed. "Why do you always have to ruin _everything_?!"

"We have a daughter." Anastasia said calmly.

"Really?" Nero frowned. "How did that happen?"

"She's five years old and her name is Serena." Anastasia said, ignoring him. "I let my brother and Penelope raise her."

"And they know about me and you?" Nero asked.

"No." Anastasia said. "I killed their child when it was born and gave them Serena instead."

"Why?" Nero said. "Why couldn't you have just given her to me?"

"My brother has a weakness for young children…" Anastasia muttered.

"He's dead." Nero said.

"What?!" She was thrown, but only for a second. "Who killed him?"

"I don't see why I should tell you that." Nero growled. "Where is Serena?"

"She's back at the Glasshouse with Penelope." Anastasia looed him in the eye. "Did you love Penelope, Max?"

"No, never. She was only a childhood friend." Nero said. He smirked. "I don't love you either, just so you know."

"No, you never loved anyone after Valentine died." Anastasia tilted her head. "Did you?"

"Don't talk about her." Nero grunted.

"Natalya is nothing like her, you know." Anastasia frowned. "So why are you so drawn to her?"

"I don't know." Nero admitted.

Anastasia sighed. "This is the weirdest interrogation I've even been in."

"Why did you try to kill me?" Nero asked, attempting to salvage the situation.

"Because she told me to." Anastasia folded her arms.

"It's not that simple." Nero said. "It never is."

"What do you mean?"

"For starters, why were you working for anyone? You hate taking orders. What could this person have promised you that you could want?"

"I want a lot of things and one of them is right in front of me." Anastasia said.

"So you wanted to be captured?"

"Not necessarily." Anastasia said. "I just wanted to see you… and it just so happened that the only way to do that was to get captured."

Nero sighed. "Who are you working for, Anastasia?"

She smiled, and said aloud what he had already guessed.

"Valentine."


	10. Broken

Otto glanced at Raven as he walked past her. She made him feel weird when he looked at her now, after _that…_

_Raven sat in a chair near Laura's room, obviously asleep. Otto frowned. She looked… strange like that, happy and peaceful…_

_Suddenly, he stumbled, falling forward. He reached out and grabbed something to steady himself. He heard the sound of ripping cloth. He looked back at Raven. The hospital gown she was wearing had ripped down the middle and his hand was pressed against her breast._

_Otto yanked his hand away as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough. Raven opened her eyes. "Gayle…" she mumbled. "How the hell are you harassing me when you're dead… oh, hi, Otto."_

"_Hi…" Otto said, his face red. _

"_So… you and Brand got married, huh?" Raven smiled. "Be nice to her, okay?"_

"_Of course I will." Otto said._

She rubbed her arms. Otto noticed that she was… crying.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"No." She muttered. She rubbed her head and the blanket slipped off her legs. Otto stared down at them.

"I know." Raven said. "I know. They're infected and…"

"So why aren't you in the hospital?" Otto asked.

"Because they can't fix it." Raven said softly.

"So you have to get them amputated?" Otto said slowly.

Raven nodded. "But… I don't want to… I don't want to become even weaker then I already am…" She started crying again. Otto knelt next to her and she cried into his shoulder. She was sobbing so hard she started coughing, blood staining the collar of Otto's shirt. Otto glanced at it nervously. She looked nothing like the Raven he had known before.

"Who was the guy I killed?" Otto asked. "The one who kidnapped Nyss?"

He was trying to cheer her up, change the subject. But it didn't work, because she started wailing even harder.

"Do you know him…?" Otto continued hesitantly.

"Every… inch of him." Raven sat up, rubbing her eyes.

Otto looked at her, confused.

"He captured me… a long time ago… and I was going to have a baby…" Raven shrugged. "If she'd found out she would have killed me and Gayle… so I had to bribe him."

"With… what?" Otto said, still not understanding. Raven pointed to herself.

"Oh." Otto blushed.

"Thank you… for killing him." Raven was clinging to the sleeve of his shirt.

"Er… welcome." Otto said. "What happened to the baby? Was it that Marianna girl?"

"No…" Raven's eyes started to tear up again. "He-"

CRUNCH.

Raven clapped her hand over her ears and screamed.

Otto looked down at the broken plastic cup under his foot. "Oops."

Raven pulled harder on his sleeve, her eyes wild and terrified. She didn't say anything, though.

"Do you want me to take you to Nero?" Otto asked.

Raven nodded. He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She weighed even less then Laura did, and it was easy to get her to Nero's room.

Nero looked up, staring at her. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I-I-" Raven stammered.

"She's upset." Otto muttered.

"Obviously." Nero took Raven from him. "I'll handle this."

Then he shut the door in Otto's face.

Otto blinked and started away. _Something is wrong with them. _He thought. _Something is really wrong._

###

Raven didn't know where she was when she woke up. She was lying on top of something hard, holding something in her arms. She opened her eyes. She was wearing nothing but Nero's shirt and she had an empty bottle in her hand.

_What the heck did I just do?_

"Oh, you're awake." Nero was standing in front of her wrapped in a towel. "Get dressed and get out of here."

Raven blinked. "But I thought-"

"Get out." Nero growled.

Raven sat up. "I _can't_, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Fine." He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

"Who's Valentine?!" Raven hissed.

"Valentine is none of your business." Nero dumped her outside his door. "Now go away. I don't want to deal with you right now."

Raven rubbed her arms. She was freezing. She hastily buttoned up Nero's shirt.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up. "Hey, Zach. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." Zach sat down next to her. "You're knocked up, just so you know."

Raven buried her head in his hands.

"But if you have the baby, you'll die." Zach added.

"Great." Raven muttered. "Better and better."

"And if you try to stop it… you'll die." Zach said.

"So… I die whatever happens?" Raven said slowly.

"Pretty much." Zach rubbed her shoulder. "I have an idea, though."

"An idea?" Raven asked. "For what?"

"Here." Zach said.

He took her down the stairs, into a part of the school she didn't recognize. It looked like a laboratory. She clung to Zach and looked around. A woman was floating in a clear glass cylinder filled with liquid. Raven stared at her in disbelief. Her face was peaceful and beautiful… except for the scar across one cheek.

Raven gasped.

"Is that… me?"


	11. Alice

Raven opened her eyes. Her new skin was soft and flawless. She was damp and floating in a strange, blue-ish fluid.

"Oh, good." Zach helped her up. His hands slid automatically around her hips. She blushed. All she was wearing was her underwear. "I've never actually done that before, so…"

She reached up and touched the bumpy scar at the hairline on the back of her neck. "Great. Well, it's not like you're often required to put someone's brain in a new body. And I'm still alive…"

For a moment, they both stood perfectly still. He stared into her eyes. Was it just her imagination or was he moving closer? His fingers stroked her side-

Her feet touched the floor. She gasped as Zach let go of her. _I'm standing! I'm standing! _She took a tiny step forward and wobbled, before falling to her knees.

She laughed and brushed her hair from her eyes. "Geez, even Em is better than me… and she can barely walk."

"Well, you're out of practice. What has it been, four years?"

She turned. "Max!"

She ran towards him, making it a few steps before she fell flat on her face. Nero pulled her to her feet and pressed something into her hand. A note?

_I want you to take the kids and go live with Otto and Laura. It's too dangerous. There's a person who wants to kill you and I think she's watching us. So I have to be cold with you when we're around others. _

She looked up. "Really?"

"Yes." Nero sighed and wrapped his arms around her. Raven buried her head in his chest. "Please forgive me." he whispered in her ear. "I didn't want to hurt you like that… but if we're being watched-and I _know_ we're being watched- I want them to believe that… well, that all that's happening between us is what everyone _thinks _is happening between us."

Raven sighed and pressed closer to him, her expression peaceful.

"I love you." Nero muttered.

She said nothing.

"Natalya?" Nero looked down. "Are you okay?"

_Oh. She's asleep._

###

**Eighteen months later**

"Ah!"

Laura looked around frantically. "How the heck did she get so far in only five minutes?! She just learned to crawl a week ago!"

"I'll find her." Raven said, pushing her down onto the park bench. "You shouldn't go rushing around with your due date a week away."

"It's two weeks!"

"Still bad." Raven shoved Em into Laura's arms. "Watch her, okay?"

"Watching…"

Raven scanned the park. Adrian poked her. "What are you looking for?"

"Alice." Raven said, not looking at him.

"Where'd she go?"

"That's the _problem_, we don't know." Raven sighed. _This is why I let Gayle's baby die with my old body. I don't have enough time to deal with this and I'm not getting any younger-_

"I think I see her!" Felix yelled from the top of the slide.

"Where?" Nyss asked.

"Over there!" Felix dashed off. Nyss and Adrian followed her, Raven close behind.

Alice was perched in the lap of a woman about Raven's age. She had pink cheeks and small features framed by her long dark hair.

"Oh, is she yours?" she said as Raven came rushing over to her.

"Yes- well, no-" Raven sighed. "I'm looking after her."

"Here." The woman handed her the little girl. Alice smiled when she saw Raven's face. She resembled her father but she wasn't anywhere near as much trouble.

"Your mom was worried about you." Nyss said, poking Alice in the face. Raven glanced at her. _She really should start wearing a bra… I can't believe she'll be twelve in March. _She looked back at the woman and looked at her carefully. There was something about her that was familiar… it was her eyes. They were calm, like there was nothing that could faze her.

"I'd better go." Raven said, turning around. The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling, which was never a good sign. As she started off, the woman cried "Wait!"

She turned around.

"You dropped something." The woman started to hand her the picture of Nero that she carried everywhere, then stopped. "You… know this man?"

"Yes." Raven whispered. She rarely saw Nero anymore, and he was always too busy to do anything but talk to her and give her a quick kiss. But that wasn't what she wanted. She knew he was having problems with something, but he would talk to her about it or whatever the supposed danger she was it was about. "Do you?"

"Yes… yes, I do." Her gaze hardened.

_What, is she his ex-girlfriend too?_

OH! That was who the woman reminded her of- Nero! Raven stared at her. They really did resemble each other, although the woman's eyes were green.

"How long?"

She frowned. "What?"

"How long have you know him?"

"Uh…" _Crap, never been good about doing math in my head…_ "for twenty years?"

"That would fit." The woman looked at her shoes, then back to Raven. "Where is he now?"

"I… I don't know." She really didn't. Now that she wasn't working for H.I.V.E. anymore…

"I need to talk to him. It's important." She sounded desperate now.

"It's about my mother." She sighed. "Look, can we talk in private?"

"Sure… we can go to my house right now if you want." Raven said warily. "Just tell me your name first."

"Amie." The woman handed her the photograph. "Amie Nero."


	12. Laura's Prophecy

Valentine closed the computer with a click. The little girl clung to her mother, her blue eyes full of fear.

"Who are you?" Penelope demanded.

"My name is Valentine." She turned at her desk to face them. "You will be safe here."

"Where's Pietor?" Penelope demanded.

"He's dead." Valentine said gently.

Penelope's mouth opened but no sound came out.

"I'm sorry." Valentine stood up. "I will show you to your room now."

###

Laura lay on the couch flipping channels on the TV, one hand resting over her stomach. Otto looked over at her. "Where'd Raven go? I haven't seen her."

"I don't know. Nyss is here. Maybe she saw Nero or something."

Nyss was sitting on a chair in the corner. She was drawing. She wasn't sure exactly what it was until it was finished.

Alice, Laura, Otto and two babies were standing at the top of a hill surrounded by gravestones. Wing was also there, standing apart from the others. All of them were wearing black and Laura was crying.

Nyss stared at the picture, then folded it in half and shoved it in her pocket. She began another one.

"What're you doing?"

Adrian was standing above her. She'd found that she got along well with her long-lost brother. They were both mostly quiet unless they were with people they knew very well.

"Drawing." Nyss's pencil kept moving, even though she was looking up at Adrian.

"Felix found this game on his computer." Adrian told her. "It's kind of addicting. Want to see?"

She stood up and followed him up the stairs to Felix and Adrian's room. She watched Felix play the game for a little while- it was pretty simple to figure out, you just moved the tiles around until you got three in a row, and then asked if she could try.

"No." Felix growled.

"Oh, come on." Adrian pushed.

Nyss sat down in Felix's chair and clicked. The instant she did so, the screen went black.

"What did you do?!" Felix spluttered.

"I didn't do anything." Nyss clicked frantically. "I have no idea-"

The screen suddenly changed, the blackness replaced by the image of flames. Downstairs, Nyss heard Otto yell a swearword. Something flashed in front of her eyes and went it was gone the computer was on the floor in pieces.

"Nyssa!" Felix wailed.

"Oh… sorry." Nyss mumbled. Her head was pounding. She jumped up, knocking the chair over and ran down the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Otto had grabbed her by the arm. "I've told you not to run up and down a million times!"

"I-"

"What are you three doing, anyway?" Otto snapped.

"Is s-"

"We were hacked."

Laura had appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Her face looked pale.

"Laura, you need to rest." Otto started moving towards her.

"No, it's fine." Laura said. "I was going to go upstairs anyway."

Otto came down anyway and put his arm around her shoulders, making sure that she wouldn't fall. They almost made it up the stairs. Then Nyss's head almost burst with pain. She stumbled and crashed into the couple.

Laura slipped from Otto's arms and fell hard on her stomach.

"Laura!" Otto shoved Nyss away and she nearly fell again. "Are you okay?"

Laura groaned but did not stir.

"Go call 911." Otto barked.

Nyss was kneeling on the ground, locked in a fetal position. Otto shook her shoulder. "Are you deaf?! She's hurt! Go-"

He seemed to see her for the first time. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, then stumbled off to go and find the phone.

###

"How the heck did you end up here?" Nero asked, glaring at Anastasia.

"I walked." Anastasia shrugged. "I had nothing else to do, so I figured I'd see you."

"You're not welcome here." Nero growled.

"I got that, thanks." Anastasia pulled a bundle of papers from her bag. "And these are for you. I also came to deliver it."

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" Nero took the papers. "Oh-"

The first page was a letter from Raven. He read it eagerly, drinking in every word while Anastasia stood with a smug smile on her face. He flipped it over, but the back was blank and the other pages were just a regular report from Otto.

"You seem so sad about being apart from her." Anastasia hissed in his ear. "Why keep her so out of reach?"

"You know damn well why, now leave me alone." Nero spat.

"Right… you claim you're trying to protect her." Anastasia laughed. "You really think that will keep her safe? If Valentine wants to kill her, she will die… and take her children with her. And wouldn't she be happier there, without you, who constantly disappoints her?"

"Shut UP!" Nero yelled, whipping around. "Get out of here and don't come back."

"Whatever you say…" Anastasia said with a smirk.

###

Felix and Adrian were talking loudly about something that seemed stupid to Nyss. She was twisting and untwisting the folds of her skirt. _This is all my fault. _

Raven entered, followed by the woman from the park. She pushed her way past everyone else there until she got into Laura's hospital room.

"I _told _you that stairs are dangerous!" Raven exploded.

Laura opened her eyes, which were glazed from the painkiller and shook her head. "It wasn't his fault…"

Otto squeezed her hand. "Don't try to talk. Just concentrate on staying alive."

Laura sat up a little. "Otto, you seem… really freaked out. Did something happen?"

"They made a mistake." Otto stroked her hair. "It's twins, Laura. Twin boys."

"That sounds… incredibly annoying." Raven muttered.


	13. Otto Ruins Everything

Nero closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. All he could think about was the horrible, awful night when Valentine had left him…

_Amie hugged her mother around the waist, which was as high as the little three-year old could reach. "See you tomorrow, mommy!"_

_Nero smiled at Valentine. "Don't do anything silly, Val."_

_She slid her arm around his shoulder. She was shorter then him by a little bit. Her curly brown hair was swept back from her face in a ponytail, and her big sad eyes full of fear_

"_There's no one there, Val." Nero said reassuringly. "It's just in and out. I would do it myself, but…" He indicated his leg, which was in a cast. "And if anything goes wrong, you can just leave if you have the code or not."_

"_But you've got to start working on this Overlord project at some point." Valentine said. She shoved an earpiece in her ear. "I'll try to do it." _

_He watched her as she disappeared from view, watching her position on the computer in front of him. Then he frowned. "Val?"_

"_I'm in." Valentine said._

"_Someone's coming- I can't see who it is-"_

"_I'm almost to the second floor." Valentine said. "I see someone- a woman-"_

_There was a bang and Valentine began to scream. Nero heard a crunch and then another scream, which was abruptly cut off. _

"_Valentine!" Nero screamed._

"_You know a girl like Valentine has no place in this world." Anastasia snarled. "You dragged her into this... and all I've done is rescue her." She laughed, then there was a crunch and nothing more._

He'd never seen Valentine again, but it seemed she was alive… and plotting against him. But why? Valentine had always been a sweet person… she took in stray cats and fed them milk. He hadn't done anything to her, never looked at another girl when they were together, never complained about the daughter he'd never wanted and never disappointed her. There was something else going on… but he didn't understand what.

He hoped that Raven never met Valentine, thought. If Raven had survived the encounter, she would probably ask him a bunch of awkward questions. Hopefully he would be able make it better with a kiss like he-

"What are you thinking about?" Anastasia demanded. She was leaning on the back of his chair whispering in his ear. He felt the cool kiss of a gun against his head. "It's not difficult to guess. Your face is all read. Your thinking about Natalya and you-"

"That's enough." Nero started to turn around but Anastasia grabbed his shoulder and forced him back.

"You're going to do exactly as I say." Anastasia traced his face with her finger. "Can you guess what I'm going to ask you to do?"

"I'm not going to do it." Nero said through gritted teeth. "I won't betray Natalya again-"

"Unless you want me to kill her."

He looked up and saw her, looking exactly the same as last time. She sat down next to him and set her hand on his leg.

"Anastasia, please stop trying to steal my husband." Valentine said sweetly. "If everything goes as planned, you can have it for a day, like I said." She smiled up at Nero. "Now I just need something for you to do…"

###

Raven looked up from Laura's pale face. "Max? How did you get here so fast?"

"Natalya." Nero grabbed her head. "Come with me."

"But-"

Nero dragged her from Laura's room and into and into an empty room. He lay down on the bed, pulling her on top of her.

"Max, not now!" Raven sat up. "Are you drunk?"

"No." Nero said. "I'm not. Geez. Of course, you're not helping."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Raven demanded.

Nero leaned over and whispered in her ear. Raven blushed. "Honestly…"

"I can't help it, can I?" He kissed her. She stopped questioning what was going on and pressed against him. He put on hand on her ribcage-

And her instincts took over, jerking away and shoving him off the hospital bed.

"Natalya?" He didn't sound angry, just startled.

She covered her mouth with her hand as her stomach churned, refusing to look at him.

"It's Gayle, isn't it?" He rubbed her shoulder. "I'm not Gayle, Natalya. You trust me, don't you?"

"I-I think so…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Raven said.

"Okay." Nero said.

They were both silent for a while.

"You didn't tell me you had a daughter." Raven said finally.

"Amie's here?" Nero frowned. "She hates me, just so you know."

"Didn't seem like it." Raven said. "I think she's pretty desperate to see you. It sounded like she was in trouble."

Nero laughed. "Wouldn't put it past her. That's all she ever did when she was a kid."

"Why did you leave her?" Raven asked.

"She ran away." Nero said. "At least that's what I thought."

"Well, she's back now…"

Nero slid an arm around her waist. "Do you want to try again?"

"I… I guess." She lay down and Nero started stroking her hair. Then he pulled a knife from his pocket, a bottle of red stuff and a syringe.

"Valentine wants me to kill you." He whispered. "Quick, rub this on your shirt."

She followed his directions, the red stain growing and spreading. It really did look like blood. Nero rubbed some on the knife, then slipped the syringe into her hand.

"It'll paralyze you for a couple of minutes." He mouthed. "Now scream."

She opened her mouth and screamed for a few seconds before falling to the floor with a thud. She closed her eyes and jammed the syringe into her arm. She shoved it into her pocket before the paralysis set in.

The door clicked open. Someone kicked her, and she forced herself to remain limp.

"Is the witch dead?" said an unfamiliar, sweet voice.

Someone grabbed her wrist and squeezed it for a moment. "Yes. Good work. Didn't think you had it in you, Nero."

Anastasia was here.

She heard footsteps. "What are you doing to Raven?!" yelled Otto's voice.

Why _does he always have to ruin everthing?!_


	14. Twins

Nero looked up at Otto. "Um… you should probably leave before you get hurt."

"Yes." Anastasia slammed the hilt of her pistol into Otto's head. "Oops." She said as he crumpled. She pulled a box of matches from her pocket and lit several, dropping them around the room.

"What are you doing?" Nero asked.

"Well, people'll notice if you go missing." Anastasia smirked. "Unless you're dead."

The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was the flames licking at the curtains.

He woke up in a dark place, the smell of blood everywhere. They were moving, and there was someone next to him breathing heavily. "Hello?" he whispered.

"Dr. Nero?" Laura's voice was thin and weak.

"Yes, it's me." He sat up and moved closer to her. "Are you hurt?"

She screamed, startling him, then gasped, trying to catch her breath. "Yes… I had a bad fall and now I'm in labor... twins…"

"Oh my." Nero said faintly.

"Yes." She screamed again, reached out and grabbing onto his shoulder.

"How long have we been here? Where are we going?"

"I think we're in a van or something… they said we'd be there in about an hour…" She made a noise and he realized she was crying. "But I don't know if I can make it that long…"

"Here." He shifted so her head lay in his lap. "Just tell me what I can do to help."

"Can you please take this hospital gown off?" Laura asked.

That hadn't been what he was expecting.

"Please? It's all stiff from blood and really uncomfortable."

He reached to find the edge and pulled it up over her head and tossed it to the side. Then he took off his coat and covered her with it.

"Thanks." Laura said. She shrieked and Nero impulsively grabbed her hand. It was very cold.

"How long have we been travelling?" he asked.

"We were on a plane for a while… three hours, maybe? And we've been here for a little less time…"

So she'd been alone with the pain for six hours. At least she was probably close to delivery now.

He was right. The first baby was born just as they arrived at their destination. He'd just given him to Laura to hold when the door slid open.

"Get out." said a voice he knew.

"Benn?" Nero frowned. "Why are you helping them!?"

"Because you got Dahlia killed." Benn snarled. He glared down at Laura. "What, is she your latest target? She's younger then Dahlia, isn't she?"

Nero picked Laura up. She clutched at him in terror with one hand and her son with the other.

"I can trust you, right?" she whispered.

Nero didn't respond.

They left the van and went down the narrow gravel path until they reached a house.

"Don't be fooled. There is security here and if you try anything you'll be killed." Benn said, letting them into the house. "You can go anywhere in here within this house, understood?"

Nero nodded. He took Laura upstairs and to his surprise found a huge four-poster bed heaped with blankets. He set her down on it and realized that she was unconscious. Her breathing was weak and as he took her son from her arms she moaned.

_If she's lost consciousness, she must be weaker then I thought._ Nero stroked Laura's bangs off of her sweaty forehead. He suddenly became overwhelmed by the desire to kiss her. And why shouldn't he? She was unconscious and no one would ever know…

Her lips tasted like strawberries. He kissed her again, harder. She still didn't stir, but the baby in his arms squirmed and kicked. He stood up and went into the bathroom to wash him off. When he came back, Laura was conscious again but the sheets around her were soaked with blood.

"Raven told me… about when Nyss was born." she whispered. "You have to… or I'm not going to make it-"

"_Max…" Raven twisted so she could face him. "I think… twins."_

"_What?!" Nero spluttered. "But the sonogram-"_

"_This isn't normal." Raven said. She took a gasping breath. "Take that thing…" She pointed to the knife in Nero's hand. "Save it, please." _

"_You want me to-"_

"_MAX! Hurry!"_

_Nero took a deep breath. "Okay…" _

He shook his head. "No! Because of that Raven almost died. If Zac hadn't cloned her-"

He was struck by a creepy thought. If Zac had thought Raven was dead after her fall like he had… why had he cloned her? Had he wanted to make his own Raven for his own purposes? He'd have to ask later.

"Adrian said I would die in childbirth." Laura said. Her voice was stronger now. "If that's what that means-"

"It'll hurt." Nero warned.

"I would expect it to hurt." Laura said. "But it'll save my life, so it's okay."

Nero said nothing. He went downstairs and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. "Are you _sure_?"

"Please, just do it!" Laura yelled.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Nero said. Their faces were only a couple of inches apart. He pressed his mouth to hers but she jerked away.

"Dr. Nero, I'm married and so are you." She clenched her hand around his. "Just give me the operation, _please_! And think. You don't really feel anything for me, specifically. You just want a girl, any girl."

Nero sighed. "You want me to knock you out?"

"Yes." Laura breathed.

He touched her neck and she closed her eyes. Nero bit his lip. He slit open her side and brought her second son out into the world. Laura stirred.

"Please wake up." Nero whispered. He kissed her forehead and jerked back as a bullet hit Laura squarely in the chest and threw her back onto the pillows.


	15. Valentine and Laura

"_Sir?"_

_He looked up from his desk as the other students left the room. It was her. Natalya looked uncomfortable as she played with the scattered paper clips on his desk, even scared. She had a serious look for a fifteen year old, but given what she had been through it wasn't actually that surprising at all._

"_Yes, Natalya?" He kissed her forehead. "Is there something I can do for you?"_

"_Dr. Nero, sir, I'm pregnant." She said softly._

_He stood up. "If you think lying will help you-"_

"_I'm not lying." She held out a sheet of paper towards him. He took it and scanned it._

"_Oh, my." He leaned forward. "That does seem like quite the problem, doesn't it?"_

"_Yes." She nodded vigorously. "So-"_

"_Too bad you'll have to figure it out yourself." Nero said, turning away from her. "I'll see you at eight o'clock in my rooms, then."_

_As he walked away, he heard her crying. He glanced back, and her tear-streaked face contorted into a snarl. _

"_You're going to be a terrible father!"_

"Hey, Otto." Raven said. Otto stared blearily up at her. "I'm just going to tell you flat out." she continued. "We don't know if Laura is alive or dead. And if she is alive, she's captured with Dr. Nero, which at the moment is not a good thing."

Otto blinked. "Why… he's on our side…" He rolled over and pulled the covers over his head. "Alice?"

"Alice's fine." Zac said. Raven didn't look at him. She couldn't without blushing.

A few weeks after she'd left H.I.V.E he'd sent her a text. It had only been three words long, but it still gave her a headache for the rest of the week.

_I love you._

"What happened?" Otto demanded.

"There was a fire." Raven said. "Anastasia probably set it. We're at the closest hospital."

"Anything new from our fortune telling twins?" Otto asked, sitting up.

"Nyss is in surgery." Raven tried to sound normal but nothing could hide the terror she felt inside. "Adrian is still asleep." She fidgeted with Otto's blankets. "He's fine." she added, reassuring no one. "He's just tired, that's all."

"What about the others?" Otto asked gently, understanding her feelings.

Without warning Raven started to cry.

Zac put his arm around her. "Hey, are you all right?"

She shoved him away. "No, I am not! My kids are dying…" She coughed.

"Did you get treated?" Otto asked.

"Yes." She waved her heavily bandaged hand at him. "Lost a couple of fingers trying to get Felix out of there. I'm fine, though." She gave him a very forced smile.

"A couple of… fingers? Are you all right?"

Raven started to cry again. "I lost my wedding ring." she whispered.

"The one from Nero?"

"Of course, you think I'd act like this over Gayle?" Raven stood up. "I'm going to go."

She left the room and found Adrian and Felix's. She stood above Felix, whose face was a patchwork of red burns. _He's what, only six years old? That was Nyss's age when she was kidnapped. No six year old deserves to go through something like this… and he's my only son by Nero. And the only one I will ever have-_

"Mama?"

She whipped around and ran to Adrian' side. She sat down next to him and threw her arms around him. Adrian cried out, and she released him. "Are you alright? Does it hurt?"

"Yes, but I'll be fine." Adrian said bravely. "Mum- I dreamed about Nero and Laura. They were fighting over a baby."

"A baby?" Raven echoed.

"Yes. And Zac was with you… but it wasn't you exactly."

"And that means…?"

"You were an android from the chest down." Adrian said. "There was a woman with curly hair there… and all three of them died."

"Are you hungry?" Raven asked, trying not to think about what he had just said.

"Yes." Adrian said.

"I'll get them to give you food." Raven said, standing up. "Just rest, okay?"

Adrian nodded.

###

Nero looked up to see Anastasia. "Why did you shoot her?" he demanded.

"She'll only die from that wound if she doesn't get treated soon." Anastasia said. "And I will only let her be treated if you kiss her again."

Nero frowned. Then he leaned down and kissed Laura.

"Keep going." Anastasia said.

"What?" Nero hissed.

"You know what you want to do, now do it." Anastasia growled.

"I- I can't, I won't hurt her like that, there's no way-"

"I'll shoot her again if you don't."

Nero clenched his fists, then pressed up against Laura. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend she was Raven. It was easy.

Too easy.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't know how much later he heard Valentine's voice but it brought him back to reality. He got off Laura and sat up.

"What are you doing?!" Valentine repeated more forcefully.

"I don't know." Nero said. "She made me." He put his clothes back on.

"She's hurt!" Valentine was staring down at Laura in shock. She raised her hand and the entire room flashed red. When it was gone, Laura sat up, her chest whole again.

"Dr. Nero, what did you do?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry." He took her hand.

"Oh- babies!" Valentine squealed. She picked up one of Laura's babies and hugged him. "He's so cute!" She rocked him back and forth. "Does he have a name? When was he born?"

"No." Laura said, looking a little startled. "He was only born a little while ago…"

"You mean- here?!" Valentine gasped. "Oh you poor thing! You should have come to me- we could have gotten you medicine or _something_…" She looked Laura up and down. "You're covered in blood! Come with me and we can clean you up and find something else to wear. Maybe there's even something for your babies!"

And without a word she grabbed Laura's arm and dragged her off.

Nero sighed. _Girls are so weird…_


	16. The World As We Knew It Is Destroyed

When Raven came back the door was shut. She opened it and saw Adrian's bed surrounded by doctors. She entered anyways, but a man blocked her path.

"Ma'am, you can't come in right now-"

"I'm his mother!" she yelled, trying to shove him out of the way. "I-"

"Raven." Otto had her by the arm. "Raven, come with me-" He pulled her backwards. She twisted, trying to escape. Otto stumbled, and fell on top of her, his legs on either side of hers.

Otto pushed himself up. "He's dead, Raven."

She went limp underneath him. "No…" she moaned.

"I'm sorry." Otto said.

How many times had Gayle forced her into the position she was in now? Even though Gayle had been horrible to her, no one deserved to die the way he had. Except maybe Anastasia. Otto looked so much like Gayle… god, it made her want to do something naughty.

"Raven?" Otto got off of her and helped her to her feet. "We're going home, okay?"

She nodded weakly.

_Max is gone and I can't give him what he wants. If he's with Laura, how long can he last? He's just going to ruin everything between us again, and it's all my fault. _

Otto drove them home. She sat next to Alice, holding her tiny, chubby hand. Alice seemed oddly subdued for what she'd been through. She was so young, but she already seemed to understand what was going on.

"I hate it." she whispered.

"What's that?" Otto asked.

"I hate raising children in our damn world." Raven snarled. "They only end up getting hurt. My daughter's watched her family be almost eaten by wolves. One of my sons is dead, and the other one I barely know. Em can't even walk but she's already been in intensive care and almost died several times. I hate it."

Otto sighed. "Me too."

Raven lapsed into angry, grief-stricken silence for the rest of the ride home.

###

Valentine and Nero stood in front of the door to the house, staring at each other.

"Well." Nero said, breaking the silence. "It is nice to see you again."

"Here." Valentine said, tossing him

"What?" Nero looked down.

Raven's wedding ring sat in his hand.

"She's dead." Valentine said. "Anastasia wasn't sure if you actually killed her… so she tied her to the bed when she burned the place down. Nothing left of her but bones and this." She smiled. "I figured you'd want something to remind you of her."

Nero closed his fingers around it, breathing very fast. _No. No. No. _

"How old was she when you first took her to bed?"

"Fourteen." Nero whispered.

"And how old were you?"

"Why do you care?" Nero demanded.

"Marianna was your daughter's name, right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Nero hissed. "Can't you just leave me in peace?!"

"She didn't cry, when she died." Valentine said softly. "Just sort of whimpered a little."

Nero froze.

"She was a nice little girl." Valentine continued, still in a soft, careful voice. "Very trusting… a little too trusting."

"What do you mean?" Nero whispered, though he knew the answer.

"I murdered her." Valentine said coldly.

"You- why?" Nero screamed. "WHY WOULD YOU KILL A DEFENSELESS TODDLER!?" He grabbed Valentine by the collar and slammed her up against the house. He was shaking. He wasn't even quite sure what he was doing, but only that he wanted to make Valentine hurt, cut her, hit her, kill her, make her feel his daughter's death the way he did.

But Valentine just smiled up at him.

"She wasn't even your child." She said. "She was Gayle's."

Nero let go of his ex-wife with shock.

"After you forced Natalya into whatever horrible things you liked to do, she'd go to Gayle for comfort." Valentine smiled. "And why wouldn't she? You were nothing more than a pervert who blackmailed her into getting what he wanted."

"Shut up! It's not like that now! I've changed!"

"Have you?" Valentine smirked. "I wonder what that girl in there thinks."

Nero felt rage well up inside of him. He slammed Valentine into the house so hard, when he let go and she slid down towards the ground, she left a bloody smear on the wall. He went back inside and slammed the door shut.

"Laura! Get over here!"

###

Laura wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve. The nausea still refused to go away, even after she'd thrown up. Maybe it was just that she felt sick from what Nero had done to her… had been doing to her for the past two weeks. He was waiting for her right now. It felt like he was constantly trapping her, forcing her into him, always at least twice a day, sometimes more. At least he seemed to feel bad about it. And he helped her take care of Fin and Dark, her newborn sons. Sometimes he talked about paying her, but she didn't think his money would help anything.

"Laura?"

She stood up hastily. "Yes, sir, I'm coming."

"Are you all right?" He was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking worried.

"Yes... fine…" Laura said shakily.

"I think you're sick." He put a hand on her shoulder. "You should go lie down."

She put a hand to her mouth as she felt the sick feeling intensify. Slowly, she sank to the floor and started to cry.

"Laura, are you all right?" Nero squatted next to her. "You're very pale."

"Dr. Nero, I think I might… um…" She pulled her legs and arms closer to her.

"Yes?"

"I think I might be pregnant." Laura whispered.


	17. Taking Chances

Nero frowned. Then he leaned down and opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out something. He pressed it into Laura's hands, then started out of the room.

Laura looked down and read the label on the box.

HOME PREGNANCY TEST.

She sat down and slowly began to open it.

###

Otto found Raven sitting on the couch, flipping through an album of the years where she'd been kidnapped by Gayle.

"Hey… who's this?" Raven said, pointing to a picture of a tiny frail baby with an oxygen mask and tubes in her arms and legs. She was barely the size of the teddy bear's head that she was laying on.

"That's my daughter." Otto said quietly. "She… died."

"Really?" Raven said. "What happened?"

Otto gritted his teeth. "Because you had to go and get 'damaged' and so Felix was born too early, so Laura had to carry him and that meant _our_ kid got 'born' when she was only fourteen weeks and she died a day later. Happy?"

"Sorry- I didn't know-"

"It's fine." Otto said.

She stared at him. He looked like Gayle… so much like Gayle… especially when he looked at her with that concerned expression-

Before she knew what she was doing, she grabbed him and pulled him down onto the couch. Otto was too stunned to break away from her for a few seconds, and she still got a few seconds of frenzied, hungry kissing.

Then Otto shoved her away. "What are you doing?" He stood up, wiping his mouth liberally on the back of his hand. "God. You're as bad as Nero!"

"I-I-" Raven jumped up and started running, but she crashed into Zac. "GOD! Can't a person have a breakdown and stomp off in peace?!"

"Natalya." Zac grabbed her arm. "We can find Nero."

###

Laura groaned as she pulled the bottle to her lips. "Is there anymore?" she mumbled.

"Yeah…" Nero said, pulling her closer into him. "But I don't want you to go." He kissed her mouth sloppily and smiled. He was getting tired of fighting her. It was so much easier when she was drunk.

"If we have kids, will I have to live with you?" Laura asked.

"If you want to…" Nero mumbled.

Laura moaned and curled into him, her expression exhausted. Nero frowned, remembering her two babies downstairs. He realized that neither of them had spared a thought for Fin and Dark in two days… He stood up.

Laura grunted. "No! Stay here!"

"But-"

"Stay here!" she shrieked.

"All right, all right." Nero said. If they died, it would just make Laura easier to control…

###

"You put a tracker in my wedding ring?!" Raven spluttered.

"Well, the two of you are always getting lost." Zac said. "I figured you'd need it. And guess what?"

"Just do it fast." Raven said. She curled up in the seat of the Shroud. "I need to find him before he does something horrid to Laura…"

"_I'm going to guess your little confession was a flop?" Gayle said as she lay down next to him with her head in his lap. _

"_I can't believe him!" Natalya fumed. _

"_Well, if he's the daddy and you're the mom, I can't wait to meet Junior." Nyss said. She flopped down onto the carpet. "Ahhh… I'm hungry! I need chocolate!" She rolled around, battering the floor with her fists. _

"_I'm probably going to die, just so you know." Natalya said. "That's what's happened to the others."_

"_The others?" Nyss asked. _

"_Come on, you really think a disgusting man like Nero is going to be satisfied with only me?" Natalya laughed. "I'm his favorite, though. Maybe that can save me."_

"_Speak of the devil." Gayle said, pointing to the door. _

_Nero stood there. She stood up. "Yeah? Come to take me to my execution?"_

"_How far along are you, Natalya?" Nero asked, walking over to her and taking her hands in one of his. _

"_Four months." Natalya whispered, her hand touching her stomach. _

"_Then come with me." Nero said, pulling her to her feet. "If it's a girl, then I'll look after you. If it's a boy… then both of you will die."_

"Raven?"

She jerked out of her memory.

_I thought he had changed, but I guess not._

They slipped out of the Shroud, just her and Otto. She saw the house and figured that couldn't be it. But that seemed to be where they were going.

As they entered, she stepped on something that crunched under her foot. She looked down and saw it was an empty bottle.

_Damn it, Max. _

"Stay here." Otto said. He started off, running up the stairs.

Raven looked around and saw a tiny baby lying on the floor. She picked him up. He was burning from fever. She sat down and rocked him back and forth. He was obviously Laura and Otto's son. His hair was strawberry blond. His face was red and his eyes were closed. Probably dehydrated, too weak to even cry…

She stood up and looked around. She was in the kitchen. She started going through the cabinets, searching for formula, but there was nothing. She looked down at the baby again. He was going to die very soon if she didn't help him, but what could she do?

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

"I know you're here." Raven said.

"Hey, Natalya." Overlord's voice was teasing. "You need something from me, don't you?"

"I need milk." Raven said, sitting down again.

"I can't only give you that, you know." Overlord said. "Are you sure you also want what comes with?"

"I…" She looked around and saw a second baby, in the same condition as the first. Her heard hardened with determination. "Sure."


	18. Firing Squad

Otto climbed the stairs, every third step punctuated by the sound of breaking glass as he stepped on one of the dozens of empty bottles lying around the house. He entered the bedroom and saw something he never wanted to see in his life.

He raced over and socked Nero in the jaw, knocking him off of Laura. "WHAT THE _HELL_ ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!"

Laura smiled brokenly and clung to his chest. "It's okay. He's nice, Otto." She rubbed her head against his shirt, then turned around and threw up.

Otto sat down, cradling him in his arms. Then he heard a scream that sounded like someone was ripping their heart out. _Raven_. He looked towards the stairs. If he went to help her that would mean subjecting Laura to Nero again. But he didn't have to worry about it, because a moment later she appeared. Only… now she appeared to be several months pregnant and had two babies pressed to her chest.

When she saw Nero she handed them to him and went over to Nero. She knelt next to him and started rubbing his shoulders. Otto noticed she was holding a knife in one hand.

"Hey, Max." she said in a seductive voice. "Do you know how it feels to give birth?"

Nero shook his head. "No-"

She jammed the knife into his leg and twisted it violently back and forth. Nero yelled and grabbed at her shoulders, seemingly not comprehending that she was the one causing him pain. She wrenched it out and Otto saw that the blade was jagged and rusty. She sat down on his chest and carved around the edge of his face.

"For nine hours straight." She smiled coyly. "But you always left when the fun part was over, didn't you?" She leaned down until her face was inches from his. "And this is how it feels to give birth to a baby created from someone violating you in a horrible, nasty way."

Otto turned away from the two. He couldn't say that Nero didn't deserve this… but he still didn't want to watch. Hearing Nero scream like a girl as Raven tortured him was enough.

"A baby created from…" Laura stared up into his eyes. "I'm going to have one." She whispered.

"What?!" Otto pulled her tighter into him. "You don't know what you're saying, Laura."

"No, I took a test." Laura said. "I want a girl, so Alice'll have someone to play with… and they'll be really close in age, too."

Nero's scream suddenly got louder and Otto turned to look. He saw Raven with the knife beginning to slice into his wrist.

"He could bleed to death if you do that." Otto said.

"I don't care. You know what he used to do back when I was a teenager? He poisoned any girl who was pregnant from him. I was the only one who he let live, and he made me a promise that he'd never touch anyone but me again. And he's broken that three times _that I know of. _He deserves this-"

"But if he dies he'll never hurt again." Otto said coldly.

Raven smiled. "Good point." She poked Nero's cheek. "Looks like it's your lucky day… Malpense seems to be a little squeamish, so you get to keep all your appendages…"

Otto suddenly noticed the amount of blood around Nero. "What did you do?"

Raven looked him in the eye for the first time. The hatred in her eyes was terrifying. "I figured he shouldn't be able to hurt a girl like this ever again." She smiled. "So I cut off his-"

Otto winced. "Don't finish that sentence or the rating on this story is going to get bumped up to M."

Raven helped Nero to his feet. "Come on. Let's get the hell out of here before he does something else to flip me off."

They helped Laura and Nero into the Shroud, and Raven went back to get the twins. Otto heard her scream again.

_What's wrong this time? _Otto went back into the house and saw Raven kneeling on the floor locked in a fetal position. He went over to her. "What's wrong?"

They were both knocked backwards as the wall in front of them blew up. Raven instinctively shielded him and the two babies and he heard her scream as she was battered by pieces of wood and plaster.

Otto turned around to see that the Shroud that had held Laura and Nero was gone, replaced by burning wreckage. "No!" he yelled.

Then everything went black.

###

Penelope Metuendus pulled the girl from the wreckage. Her long red hair had been partially burned away, and one leg looked to be broken.

"Don't bother trying to help her, they're both going to be shot immediately." Anastasia said.

Penelope nodded.

Anastasia watched as she carried the injured girl away. She didn't trust her. She never had. Penelope had appeared out of nowhere with nothing to do with their world and had stolen her brother from her, made him betray her. And her two children had been just as bad…

She shook her head and started after.

###

Laura opened her eyes to stare into the battle of a gun. She instinctively clenched the hand of the person next to her, then flinched away as she noticed it was Nero.

"Ready, aim-" said a voice she didn't know, a child's.

She closed her eyes again and let Otto's face fill her mind.

"FIRE!"

###

Shelby tossed the cell phone across her room and flopped down on her bed, which was covered in boxes. Boxes filled with shiny, pretty things that she'd obsessively taken over the past months.

_He hasn't called me. He hasn't even tried to talk to me. _

Amie Nero stood in the doorway, looking bored. "Thanks for the information."

"Did anyone… die?" Shelby asked hesitantly.

"Both Laura Malpense and Nero have been executed."

Shelby clenched her hands around fistfuls of sheets.

_It's worth it. If what Valentine says she can do is true, then it's all worth it. _


	19. Amnesia

**Seven Months Later**

"_Your daughter is just as beautiful as you are." Overlord said quietly as she picked up one of Otto's babies. _

"_You mean Nyss?" Raven said tiredly. "And technically she's _our _daughter." _

"_Technically." Overlord said. _

_She didn't like how he said it. _

"_You're a bit young to be a grandmother." Overlord said slowly. "But…"_

_That was when she had screamed. _

Raven woke sweaty and aching. She yawned and pulled Meghan, Fin and Dark closer to her, then recoiled at all the extra baby heat. It was _hot_ in the cell, and it didn't help that it was the middle of August. Otto was lucky, he got to sleep on the floor, but someone had to make sure that the babies didn't fall out of the cot during the night.

She sat up and pulled off her shirt, then flopped back down onto her bed, tossing it to the side.

The shirt landed on Otto's face. He sat up, looking confused. "Laura? I-"

"It's me." Raven cut in quickly.

"Oh." Otto yawned. "Not like you disappoint me or anything but…"

"Yeah, I know. I'd rather you were Nero…"

"Really?" Otto asked. "After everything you did to him-"

"Well…" Raven said. "The whole point of my hurting him was to get him to stop cheating on me. So hopefully he'll keep that promise."

"Hopefully." Otto said. "If he's like that deep down… there isn't really anything that can change it…"

"But he's not!" Her eyes began to tear up and she pulled Meghan closer to her. She had asked Overlord for Meghan so she could feed and take care of Otto's twins better, and it had worked. Overlord kept badgering her to have another baby, but she wouldn't let him. "I know he's better than this… at least, I think he's better than this…"

"It's strange." Otto said. "Nero acting out of character after…"

"After what?" Raven demanded.

"Well, my computer got hacked." Otto said. "It was a while ago, and then Laura went into Labor and all that other crazy stuff happened… I never got a chance to mention it. But they took the research I was doing for G.L.O.V.E."

"What was it about?" Raven asked.

"Mind control." Otto said.

###

Laura locked the door as she left the shop, slipping it into her pocket. She started down the path towards her bus stop.

Her cell phone rang. She picked it up. It was from Nero.

"You're late again." he said.

"I know." Laura said. "I told you I was working overtime-"

"Cami won't stop shrieking at me." Nero snapped.

"That's not really my problem." Laura said, sitting down at the bench at the bus stop..

"She's your goddamn daughter!" Nero yelled.

"Only because you were a-" Laura sighed. "I'm hanging up now."

"Wait! Tell me what to do about her! I was worried-"

Laura shoved it back into her pocket. Stupid Nero.

A different face flashed through her mind- a man her age with white hair and blue eyes. She kept seeing these sorts of things, even though she'd never seen that man before in her life. She wasn't sure what was going on, but lately she'd had the feeling like she was forgetting something…

But there was no time to dwell on it. She had to work to support Nero, who never did anything useful, and Cami, who had been only born a week ago and had needed expensive heart surgery to keep her alive from being born after only seven months. Which had been Nero's fault. He'd been tired of Laura being tired and not feeling well, so he'd given her something that made her give birth to Cami early. He didn't seem to like her very much, and he was at least forty years older than she was. Strangely, she couldn't remember a lot of things about their relationship, only a handful of things about what he liked blaand didn't like.

The bus arrived. She got on and sat down, collapsing into the seat. She was so tired lately, not her body but her mind. Which was strange because all she did was work all day and code late into the night-

Another face popped into her head, a blond girls'. _Brand, I'll put up with you spouting technobabble in the daytime, but do you have to do it when I'm trying to sleep too_?

She shook her head. This was getting ridiculous.

When she got home, Nero shoved Cami into her arms. "Take care of her, will you?" he said, shoving past her. "I need a drink."

Laura collapsed onto the couch. Cami started screaming even louder, battering her mother with her tiny fists. Laura didn't even notice.

Her phone rang again. She picked it up. "Hello?"

There was no answer from the other end, but she could hear whoever it was breathing. She was about to put it down when whoever it was screamed. There was a bang, then another scream.

Laura clung to the phone. "He-hello?"

"Help me…" whispered a young girl's voice. "Please-"

Another scream.

Laura closed her eyes. She'd heard that voice before… but she couldn't remember where from…

"It's him!" the girl gasped. Then the line went dead.

"Nyssa!" Laura suddenly burst out.

Cami suddenly stopped screaming and looked up at her, startled. Then she began to wail again.

Laura dumped the baby on the couch, and started dialing a number she suddenly knew, her husband… what was his name again-

A huge jolt when through her and she fell to the floor, screaming. She sat up. What had she been doing? Calling… someone…

Laura sighed. Cami was crying. She had to deal with that first before dealing with any strange mysteries.


	20. Under Atack

**Yes, the Miss Heath who appears in this chapter is the same Miss Heath who takes over for Natalie in Alias. Miss Heath pretty much exists to run H.I.V.E. when Nero can't. So there you go. **

Nyss woke from the nightmare with the phone in her hand. She was lying on the floor and she could still feel the pressure from the man with red hair on her chest… but when she opened her eyes it was only Felix.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Em was under the covers on her bed with only her feet sticking out. "I found my pants!" she exclaimed.

Nyss sighed.

"Nyssa." Nyss looked away from Felix and saw the stand-in headmistress, Miss Heath. "Are you all right?"

"No." said Nyss, standing up.

"Has this happened before? Do you need sleeping pills, maybe?"

"No, I'll be fine." Nyss said. "What time is it?"

"About three in the morning." Miss Heath said.

"Why did you come here?" Em said, poking her head out from under the blanket. "You're not her mommy."

"Yes, well. I'm still in charge of your safety." Miss Heath stood up, looking slightly embarrassed. "Now, if there's no problem, I'm going to go back to sleep."

As she left, Nyss stood up. "What's going on? Have we landed yet?"

"I think so." Felix said. "Only it's hard to tell. No one tells us anything."

"I found my duck!" called Em from under the blankets.

After the original location of H.I.V.E. had been found out, they have eventually moved into… what as far as Nyss could figure was a huge Shroud, but what everyone said was the second version of the Dreadnaught. Nyss had no idea what that meant, but she figured she probably didn't need to know.

"Are you going to sleep?" Felix asked her.

There was a huge explosion followed by screaming and yelling.

"No!" said Nyss, starting for the door.

###

Penelope crossed her arms. "Why do you hate me?"

Anastasia looked up from the controls of the drone. It was so fun to play with one of those- like a video game, but with real people dying. "Yes, Penny Dreadful?"

"That's not my name." Penelope snapped. "And ever since we've met, you've hated me. Why?"

"You know why." Anastasia spat.

Serena watched the verbal sparring between the two women with interest. "Mama? What's going on?"

"Nothing, Rini." Penelope said.

Anastasia's vision blurred and she clenched the arm of the chair she was sitting in. _Mama…_

She had told herself the reason she had lied to Nero about Serena being her daughter was because she wanted to hurt him, to hurt his relationship with Natalya, the same reason she had been making him think he was in love with Laura Malpense. But the real reason was… she wanted Serena to be hers.

Of course, there was no way that could happen.

"And I don't." Penelope snapped. "I'm not a mind reader."

"Will you just leave me alone?!" Anastasia snarled. "I've got things I have to do!"

"No!" Penelope hissed.

_The dark haired child was running through the house, stopping every couple of feet when she was distracted by something shiny, often knocking things off the walls and leaving muddy footprints on the carpet. Neither her mother nor her uncle, talking quietly on the couch, made any move to restrain her. _

_Anastasia gritted her teeth and grabbed the little girl's wrist. "Stop this behavior now." _

_Natalya scrunched up her tiny face and stuck her tongue out at Anastasia. _

_Blinding rage filled her. She grabbed Natalya's wrist and started twisting it, knowing that in a few more seconds it would snap-_

"_Stazi." _

_Alexei's gentle hand on her shoulder forced her to let go. In once swift move he had her pinned to the carpet. _

"_Little sister…" Alexei drew a knife and dug it into her arm. "I told you not to hurt my daughter." He smiled as Anastasia screamed and Natalya looked on, her blue eyes confused because she did not understand why her father would do things like this, horrible terrible things…_

"Anastasia!"

It was Penelope's hand on her shoulder but she shook it off and started running.

_Natalya leaned her head on Gayle's shoulder. "What are we going to do? It's not like we can hide it until it's born… and after…"_

"_We'll figure something out." Gayle said. "We can always just kill it…"_

_Natalya started to cry. "No, I don't want to!"_

_Gayle sighed. "But if Anastasia finds out-"_

_She clenched her fists. Why did Natalya deserve to have children and she didn't? Natalya hadn't done anything but be born. She'd been abused by her father and her brothers, the useless younger sister, she'd trained Natalya and given her abilities that she never would have had-_

_Anastasia narrowed her eyes. _

There is no way I am going to let that baby live.

###

Nero went into the apartment with the feeling that something was not right.

Then he heard someone, in his mind, a voice choked with tears and a Russian accent.

"So it wasn't Max's fault."

He blinked, and all of the sudden he could see _her_ in front of him and he knew every inch of her, dark hair, blue eyes in a pale face, a tiny gap between her two bottom front teeth, hourglass figure, his princess in combat boots.

But he couldn't remember her name.

###

Shelby looked up. "Wing? What are you doing here? Do you know what's going on? Are we being attacked? And why haven't you called me?!"

Wing looked at her for a long time. "I lost your number."

"How?!"

Another pause. "I burned it."

"What?!"

"It's better this way." He turned to leave. "And by the way, we're under attack."


	21. Memories

She found a small corner, a hidden place and curled up into a ball, not wanting to remember but unable to forget.

_Alexei let go of the brown haired girl as Anastasia entered. She slumped to the floor and didn't move. Penelope sat on a nearby chair, her hands cradling a bottle. _

"_What were you doing to her?" Anastasia asked. _

"_It's none of your concern." Alexei said. _

"_It looked like you were kissing." She looked around. "I thought you were going out with her?"_

_Penelope laughed. "I'm boring apparently…" Her cheeks were flushed and she swayed back and forth on her high perch. Pietor, sitting in the corner with a book, was watching her out of the corner of his eye. _

_Alexei started towards Anastasia, tossing the bottle in his hand to the side. "You want to know what I was doing, Stazi?"_

"_No, I-"_

_He threw her to the ground with ease, ripping her blouse open down the front. _

"_Oh, good grief, she's your kid sister." said Penelope. She hiccupped. "Besides, she's a kid. What are you going to get from her?"_

"_It's just fun to watch her squirm." Alexei said, tearing off the rest of her clothes. Anastasia twisted and kicked at her brother but he was twice her size and it did nothing._

"Anastasia, what the hell is wrong with you?" Valentine spat.

She jumped to her feet. "Just… I just…"

"The assault is underway, I need you in the broadcasting room." Valentine ordered.

She looked down at her shiny black boots.

"Right _now._" hissed Valentine.

_It hurt carrying her brother's child, but what hurt even more was what he had done to her afterwards. _

###

Nero dreamed about the woman, wearing a red silky dress and sitting on the edge of his bed. She leaned over and kissed him, and he closed his eyes and let himself be lost in her.

She stroked his hair. "Max…"

"Who are you?" he whispered. "Have we met?"

"Of course." She whispered.

"Of course we've met." Laura said. "God, get off me, will you!" She shoved him aside. Cami was howling in her arms.

"You?" he whispered. "But I- I saw-"

_Her. _

"I don't care what you saw! Leave me alone! God." Laura sighed. "Isn't one unwanted child enough?"

"She's not- who said-"

"You did! I did! We all did! Maybe we should just kill her and go our separate ways." Laura punched the couch. "I don't know. I hate this. I hate myself."

Nero heard a dry laugh. He turned to see a woman standing in the doorway. She too had dark hair but he knew her name. "Amie."

"Close. I am your daughter, but not that one." Amie- or whoever it really was- said. "Use those brain cells for something other than mooning over Mum, will you?"

She raised her hand to her eyes and plucked out the colored contacts she wore, revealing them to be deep blue.

"There's no way." Nero said, standing up. "There is no way you could be alive… besides…" He searched for the name but it wouldn't come to him. "… she said that you were Gayle's daughter!"

"Well, she was wrong." Marianna Nero said, crossing her arms. "Now do you want to come with me and get your memories back or not?"

"I… sure." Nero said.

###

Raven jumped up. Otto looked startled. "You… are _not _Laura."

Raven plucked Meghan off the floor and pulled her into her arms. "And you aren't Max." She clenched her fists. "OVERLORD!"

The response came immediately. "Yes, dearest?"

"Dearest? Dream on. And quit screwing with us!" Raven yelled.

"Er…. Why are you talking to the air?" Otto asked.

"Look at me." Raven ordered.

Otto frowned.

"Out of the corner of your eye. Just do it."

He did and now he could see red lines swirling, swarming around Raven's body. He stepped backwards, still not looking at them straight on, and grabbed one. It disintegrated at his touch but not before he saw that it was made of computer code.

"What's going on?!" Otto demanded.

"He's stalking me." Raven grunted. "He has been for a while. He's Nyss's father and Meghan's…"

"How can he have kids when he's just a computer?" Otto demanded.

"I have no idea." Raven said. "If I knew I would try to stop him."

"Excellent." Otto pointed to the door. "Can he help us escape? It's an electronic lock…"

Raven blinked. "I didn't think of that."

"Obviously." said Otto with some satisfaction. "Now gather up the baby patrol and let's go."

###

Nyss stumbled out of her room followed by Felix. She turned around. "Em! Come on!"

"But it's fun in here!" Em protested.

"We're under attack, I'm really not worried about you being entertained at the moment." Nyss snapped.

"You're a potato." Em complained.

Felix snatched her off her feet and threw her over his shoulder, then took after Nyss. The three skidded to a halt as Zach appeared in their way. Behind him was a woman whose face was hidden in shadow.

"We should probably leave." Zach said. "Here. Fledge'll get you off safely."

"Fledge?" Felix repeated.

"Fledgling. She's a… pet experiment of mine." Zach said. "She's good at… doing dangerously reckless things."

"Ah…" said Nyss. She frowned. "Actually… what?"

The woman stepped out of the shadows. Nyss gasped. "Mum!"

Fledge looked confused. She had the exact same face as Raven, but from the chest down her entire body was made of interlocking pieces of metal like armor.

"Fledge... I have to go grab stuff." Zach waved at the kids. "Bye! Don't die!"


	22. Fighting

Mariana lead Nero, Laura and Cami down the stairs. "This isn't your regular girlfriend isn't she?"

"What? No… I guess not." Nero said. He had Cami in one of those slings on his chest and he stroked her soft brown hair as they walked. Laura was so tired she had to stop every dozen steps. When she was cute like this, it made him want to give Cami a sibling…

Suddenly, he had a sudden vision of the dark haired woman, only now she was a little younger and very pregnant. They were sitting on a bed playing Monopoly and talking about someone called Gayle. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm, starting to cry. "I just don't know what to do anymore…"

"If you really want to…" He moved his hand over her stomach. "We can end it."

"No… I don't know… my emotions are so mixed up." She sighed.

He was brought sharply back the present as gunfire exploded across the street. Mariana bit her lip and lead them quickly to her car. Laura got in the back and Nero passed Cami to her and sat next to Mariana. "I trust you have your mother's skill set."

"I killed Amie." said Mariana, gunning the engine. "I thought we'd get that out of the way right now." She slammed down on the accelerator and the car screamed out of its parking spot. Mariana skidded around corners and completely ignored all traffic signals. Cami was crying hysterically in the backseat as Laura looked out the window. "They're following us!"

Seconds after she said this, bullets peppered the back windshield. Laura screamed as she collapsed against the side, blood smearing the window. Mariana drove even faster but nearly lost control. They skidded down the road sending the other cars rushing from their path as they fishtailed wildly. Mariana got control of the car as they nearly missed a Starbucks.

"Where are we going?" Nero yelled. He looked behind them and saw four sets of headlights behind them and a lot of blood all over the backseat. But he couldn't get to Laura with the car going so fast.

"To go die." Mariana said, laughing maniacally. Nero glanced at her. Her features were alive and brimming with delight as she swerved.

"Die?" Laura whispered, forcing herself up.

"I mean do this." Mariana turned sharply into a parking garage. As they zoomed up the levels, more shots were fired and Cami began to scream as Laura collapsed once again. Nero dragged her bloody form from the backseat and into his arms.

"Get out." Mariana hissed as they passed into the shadows. Nero rolled out of the car and ducked behind a parked one. He looked down at Laura. "Where's Cami?"

"Still in the… car." Laura pressed her fingers into the wound her chest. "I couldn't-"

She opened her mouth in a silent scream as Mariana dove from the car and rolled under a parked one, sending it off the cliff.

###

_Warm arms… but not her mothers and a strange metallic taste in her mouth. Her chest hurt. She opened her eyes and saw her mother's features in the wrong face- dark hair blue eyes. _

"_She doesn't deserve you." Anastasia cooed to her. "The unwanted baby…" She smiled and Mariana began to scream. _

"_But _I'll_ take care of you…"_

###

Nyss raced into the hanger. "Okay, which one do we take?" she yelled, waving her hand at the Shrouds.

"None." Fledge said. "They'll need them for getting the students out."

"Then how are we supposed to get out of here-"

Fledge grabbed Nyss in one arm and Felix in the other as Em clung to her back. Then she ran to one of the windows and jumped through it.

Nyss screamed as air whooshed past her face. But they weren't falling! She looked around and saw wings made of metal slowly flapping, attached to Fledge's back.

"I don't know how long this'll last." Fledge bellowed over the wind. "So I'm going to land as soon as I can."

Nyss wasn't listening, instead she stretched out her arms and kicked her legs back and forth, screaming with delight. _I'm flying! I'm really FLYING!_

Fledge sighed. "You really are just like your namesake…"

###

Otto carrying Fin and Raven holding Meghan and Dark all crept down the hallway. Raven sighed. "Why are we even attempting to be stealthy? They'll know we broke out."

"You're quite right."

Otto turned around to see a woman with a gun pointing at the children in his arms. She had glossy dark hair and soft dark eyes. Her featured were Raven's but instead of being pale her skin was deeply tanned.

"Penelope." Raven whispered. "_Mum._"

The woman ignored her and fired.

###

"Wait." Shelby said quietly, taking out her blackbox. "H.I.V. . Lock the doors."

There was a click. Wing turned around, looking a little angry. "What are you doing, Shelby?"

"I betrayed everyone." Shelby whispered, coming closer to him. "Because of you. You don't even care!"

"No, it's not that." Wing said. "You know how Adrian had a dream about Laura dying?"

"Yes." Shelby said. "But she didn't die. He was wrong-"

"That's because it's NOT Laura that will die!" Wing exploded. "It's you!"

"What?! How the heck do you get Laura and me mixed up-"

"When it's dark." Wing said. "And you see Laura's spouse next to a dying woman, you sort of assume it's Laura. But I knew it was you." He sighed. "Two years from now, you become pregnant with twins. Eight months later we are both attacked by a woman named Amie Nero. I am killed and you are mortally wounded. You are taken to the hospital, give birth and die." Wing hugged her close. "I don't want that to happen to you… to us. So it's better if I just stay away-"

Shelby gasped suddenly and collapsed forward onto Wing. The bullet had gone straight through both of their chests.

"You can't change the future." Valentine whispered, kicking them away. She smiled as she slowly opened the door to the control center. "No matter how much you wish for it…"


	23. Winter Wonderland

Marianna waited until the men were gone. Idiots. They didn't even bother to see if she was still alive.

Then the little girl in her arms closed her eyes and let out the loudest most obnoxious noise Mariana had ever heard.

Brand and Nero came rushing over. Well, Nero rushed, Laura staggered, blood dripping from the wounds in her side. She grabbed Cami who tugged at her mother's shirt, rubbing her head against her chest. Laura fell sideways into a car and slowly sat down, smearing blood across the gray metal.

"We need to get her to the hospital-" Nero started.

"No time, I can patch her up while we're traveling." Mariana said.

"Traveling where?" Laura mumbled.

"To go find my mum." Mariana said. "I have an idea of where she might be. We go there, bust them out and head on back to H.I.V.E."

"What is that?" Laura asked.

Mariana sighed. "We've got a lot to cover."

###

Valentine shot the few remaining technicians and walked to the middle of the control room. "Hello, H.I.V. ."

"Valentine Nero." The blue face on the monitor eyed her with suspicion. "According to my files, you are deceased."

"Yeah, those would be incorrect." Valentine pulled a small computer chip from a pocket in her belt. She plugged it in the computer. "Open and run file Valentine."

"I am not authorized to follow your orders." H.I.V. said.

"I'm overriding that." Valentine snapped.

"Password?"

"V-A-L-0-5-3-1." Valentine said promptly. It was the password he had always used- the first three letters of her name followed by her birthday.

"Incorrect."

She closed her eyes. "Fool." She whispered. She opened them. "Give me the data on operative code-named Raven."

She scanned the screen, searching for a birthdate.

"Right. The password is N-A-T-0-4-0-5." Valentine whispered, suddenly feeling very alone. Max really had forgotten about her, left her for that other woman.

"Correct." H.I.V. said. "Activating…"

###

Dark gave a short gasp as the bullet hit his tiny chest. Raven jumped back. "_Mum!_"

"How could you?!" Otto yelled. "He's an infant!"

Something stirred in Penelope's cold eyes for a second. Then she turned the gun on Meghan.

"No!" Raven screamed, turning around and began to run. A bullet caught her in shoulder and she spun around, falling to the floor. Otto ran towards her.

Penelope gasped, then dropped to the ground clutching her head. Raven grabbed Otto's hand and dragged him through the building. She saw two heavy doors in front of her, heavily guarded. One of them fired at her. Raven tossed Meghan at Otto and ran at him, knocking the gun from his hand with one kick. She used it to shoot three others while knocking the one who had fired. The last one dropped his weapon and fled, and she shot him as he was running.

They burst through the door and saw white. Snow. There was a fence a few feet away, and Raven immediately made for it. "Hurry up." She called. "This is far too easy."

Otto sighed. "Can we just go?"

They climbed the fence and began the long trek through the snow. Raven grabbed Meghan and Fin and shoved them under her shirt to keep them warm. She examined Dark.

"Is he alive?" Otto asked.

"No." Raven said, after a moment. "I'm sorry, Otto. Do you want to bury him?"

"I don't know that we can, what with all this snow." Otto rubbed his forehead.

"We'll bury him in the snow then." Raven said, kneeling down. She scooped a hole in the snow. "Do you want to do it?"

Otto took his son from Raven, kissed Dark's tiny head and lay him in the shallow grave. Raven kicked snow over him and squeezed his hand.

Otto looked over at her and thought about kissing her, but he decided against it. "Come on." He said.

###

Nero held Laura in his arms and kissed her gently. "Has the bleeding stopped?"

Laura looked down at the sodden rag pressed against her stomach. "I think so." She kissed him back, shirting around so she was facing him, pressing her hands into his shirt.

"Careful- we don't want to reopen it." Nero said gently.

"I can be careful." Laura said, starting to undo the buttons on his shirt.

"You want another kid?"

"Yes." Laura said.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly. "I can't give that to you."

Laura stared at him with pleading eyes. "Can you at least try?"

He sighed. "All right…"

###

"_How much further?" she whispered, grabbing Gayle's shoulder._

"_I don't know, love." Gayle said. He lay his hand over her stomach, waiting for the kick. Then he slung her over his shoulder. "Come on."_

_She pressed her face into his shoulder. Gayle talked softly to her as she did. "We'll find a place to stay. And then you can have the baby-"_

"_Gayle, I think it's coming right now." She whispered. _

"_Really?" He felt her side. "You're right. Well…" He shrugged. "I'll just carry you, then."_

Raven got tired first. She fell down and could not get up again. Her fingers and lips were blue with cold. She hugged Meghan even tighter.

"Do you want to stop?"

"Yes, I think the babies need feeding." She lied. As she nursed the children, she felt Otto slide his arms around her.

"I think I like you." Otto whispered.

"Don't think like that." Raven said. Her teeth were chattering so fiercely that he could hardly understand her. She was curled into a ball, trying to protect herself from the biting cold.

He sat down next to her and kissed her hair. "I could warm you up."

"Taking off your clothes in this weather would be truly stupid." Raven snapped.

"Laura and Nero will never have to know."

"If you try anything, Malpense," Raven hissed. "I swear I will kill you as slowly and painfully as possible."

He looked down at her, small and pathetic, too cold to stand. She raised an eyebrow as if daring him to object.

"All right." He said. "You win."


	24. Torn

Otto and Raven found a little shack to shelter from the snow in. They pressed against each other, trying to stay warm, Meghan and Fin between them.

"So… are you and Nero going to get back together?" Otto asked.

"I…" Raven gave an enormous yawn. "I suppose…"

She closed her eyes and feel asleep leaning against him. Otto put an arm around his shoulder, forcing himself not to go further. Raven shifted in her sleep until her head was in his lap.

Otto stroked her cheek as he fell asleep. After they had both lost consciousness, Overlord came out from where he was hiding and concentrated on Raven's body. He was annoyed at them for using him to escape, and so he decided that it would be fun to punish them.

Inside Raven's body he created a child that looked exactly like Otto.

_That'd show them. _

###

_Gayle blinked at her. "Did you miss me, love?"_

"_I don't know." she said quietly. "You shouldn't have died the way you did… that was horrible… and I miss the old you, the one who used to look after me." _

"_I'm sorry." Gayle said. _

She woke up.

"I'm sorry." Nero was saying to Otto. "I-"

"MAXOHMIGODITHOUGHTYOUWEREDEADWHERETHEHELLHAVEYOUB EENILOVEYOUI'MSOSORRYFORWHATIDIDIHATEMYSELFAREYOUO KAY?!"

Nero fell over onto Otto as Raven hugged him so hard she knocked him over. "Sorry." He turned to her, rolling over so she lay on top of him. "Who are you?"

"R… Raven, Natalya, your wife… OHMYGODISTHATMARIANNA!?"

"Er." said Nero, struggling to understand her. "Yes?"

Raven threw her arms around her daughter. Marianna winced. "Please do not do that."

"Sorry." Raven said. "I just…" She hugged Nero again. "I want to go on vacation."

"Right now?" Nero asked.

"Yes, right now." Raven said. "I…"

She glanced around, then stopped.

"You're pregnant." Otto said suddenly.

"I… what?" Raven looked down. "Oh… no!"

"Natalya…" Nero whispered, glancing at Otto.

"I swear I didn't!" Raven hissed.

He looked at her for a long moment. "I believe you."

"This is very touching, but we need to stop Valentine before she controls everyone on this planet." Marianna snapped. She pulled out a thin silver box.

"You've got your friend Zach to thank for this." she said. "That man is a genius, you know."

"Oh really?" said Raven snidely.

"Yes, he is. Without him we'd-" Marianna blushed. "It's not like that!"

"Okay…" Raven said, rolling her eyes. "So what does Gayle's thingy do?"

"It teleports you." Marianna said. "We will gather Nyss and Fledgling, and go and stop Valentine."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Nero said, wrapping his arm around Raven. "And I know you'd never agree to being left back here, but I still want you to stay safe. Don't do anything too crazy, okay?"

She smiled sweetly, nuzzling her head against his shoulder. "Of course not, Max."

###

Nyss stared down at her feet in the water. Em poked at a dead crab with a stick, then picked it up and bit into it. Felix swatted her arm. "No! That's gross."

Nyss looked up as she heard a whirring sound, then Raven, Laura, Nero, Otto and a woman she didn't know splashed down into the water. She stood up. "Fledge!"

Raven stood up, tossing a dead fish at Otto. "Lovely. Can't you steer, Marianna?"

"Well, it's difficult." Marianna said stiffly.

Laura grabbed at Otto's shoulder. "It's cold!"

"We don't have time for silliness, we need to grab Nyss and Fledge and get going." Marianna said. "Laura, do you want to stay behind with the kids?"

"Yes, please." Laura said.

Otto kissed the top of her head. "Good, I don't want you in danger."

"Sappy and predictable, as per usual." Raven muttered.

"Nero said the exact same thing to you earlier!" Otto hissed.

"Yes, but Nero, unlike you, is hot, and, unlike you, is not an idiot, so when _he _says it it's sweet." Raven said.

"Okay." Nero said. "Can we save this for afterward? Please?"

Raven and Otto both nodded, if slightly grudgingly.

###

Penelope crossed her arms. "Valentine Nero has her own agenda." she said. "She's not following the plan at all. Should I eliminate her?"

"Yes." said the man on the left screen. "Go ahead."

Penelope smiled.

###

"File fifteen percent loaded." said H.I.V. .

Valentine cursed- why was this taking so long? She didn't have much time. She was sure Nero and his little friends would be coming pretty soon.

"I've always admired your skills."

She turned to see a man standing at the doorway. He had dirty blond hair and brown eyes and he was pointing a gun, not at her, but at the screen, which was worse.

"Zach Goodeman." Valentine said.

"Yes. I cannot let you do this, however, so I guess I'm going to have to destroy your work." Zach clicked off the safety.

Anastasia darted out of the darkness and shot him in the side. She kicked him aside as she approached Valentine. "Will I get to kill Natalya?"

"When she gets here, certainly." Valentine said. "Although I suggest hiding, it will be much more effective."

"Loading twenty-five percent complete." remarked H.I. .

Just as Anastasia slipped out of her corner, Nero, Raven, Otto, Nyss, Fledge and Marianna exploded out of thin air. Valentine took a step back. "How did you get here?"

Zach laughed, but it turned into a gurgling cough. "Glad… you found that useful." He tossed Raven something and she caught it and grinned. "Here you go."

Raven slid her ring back on her finger and turned to face Valentine. "I'm going to give you a chance to surrender-"

Nero was standing next to her so he was splattered with her blood as Anastasia's fire tore her apart. Raven fell hard, slamming into him. Nero was frozen, unable to believe it as her blood soaked though his shoes. He sat down under her weight as she clung to him, her damaged heart struggling to keep her alive.

She was crying hard and that was what finally ripped him back into this terrible reality. It was clear that there was nothing he or anyone could do to help her, so he just took her hand and squeezed it, the ring Zach had given back to her pressing familiarly against his hand.

"Sorry." he said, because there was nothing else for him to say, nothing for him to do.

She smiled, softly, gently, as he brushed the tears from her eyes. Then they slowly fluttered closed as she was torn from him.


	25. Loading, Please Wait

Nero sat down hard on the floor. He leaned over and kissed Raven's cheek, then her lips, desperately trying to rouse her. But Raven did not stir, of course. Nero could not breath or think of anything, let alone Valentine-

"Loading fifty percent complete." H.I.V. chirped.

Marianna stood up. "How dare you!" She took a step forward. "Never mind surrender, I'm going to kill you now-"

"Oh, you can't." Valentine shook her finger at the little group. "If you do I will activate my mind-control broadcaster and it will be all over!"

"Then why don't you just do it now?" Marianna snapped.

"Er…" said Valentine.

"We know it's still loading." Otto said. "H.I.V. keeps announcing the progress every three minutes."

"Um." said Valentine. "That's, er, something else."

"Right." said Otto, frowning.

"Ignore her." Marianna said. She started moving her hands very fast. Otto blinked at her. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm explaining the plan." Marianna snapped.

"Um." said Otto. "Are you aware that Anastasia is hiding behind that wall?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I was just about to-" Marianna looked down at Nyss. "Hey, you. What's going on?"

"This…. Isn't supposed… to happen." Nyss was sitting on the ground in a ball, shaking like a leaf. "She can't die… it's not supposed to happen this way!"

"She's not dead." Nero said in a voice just above a whisper. He had Raven in his lap and he was stroking her hair. "She's just sleeping, right?" And he kissed Raven's blue lips again.

"Right, old man. I'll leave you to your delusions, for now." Marianna glared at Anastasia. "Get out here and fight me."

Anastasia laughed.

###

It was soft where she was, and warm too. She wanted to keep sleeping, but years of instinct forced her to sit up and look around. She was lying on the floor and someone was sitting next to her stroking her face.

"Max?" She turned around to face him, but what she saw instead was Gayle.

"No!" She jumped up. Her body felt weak, like it was new all over again. "No, you're dead, you're gone, you were eaten by the wolves- YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME ANYMORE!"

"Relax." He stood up and took her hands in one of his. "I am not Gayle."

"Overlord." she breathed.

"Yes."

"I expect you want me to dress in short tight clothes that you pick out and wear makeup and be your perfect little slave." Raven snarled.

"No." said Overlord. "I just want you to stay here and please not kill me."

"Where is here?" Raven asked. They seemed to be in a living room, a normal one that could be in any house.

"A place that I created." Overlord said. "I brought you here so I could save your mind, at least, even though your body is destroyed."

"My body… what happened to it, then?" Raven demanded.

"Anastasia killed you." Overlord said. "And I didn't want you do die…"

"But then aren't you working with Valentine?" Raven asked.

"No." Overlord said.

"What?!" Raven frowned. "Then… Valentine said she was working for someone… who?"

"Anastasia, probably. Or Metuendus." Overlord shrugged. "I really don't care too much about taking over the world anymore. I just want you."

Instinctively, she started to move away.

"Not like that." said Overlord. "If you want, we don't have to do anything."

"Well…" Raven smiled. "You can make yourself look like anyone here, right?"

"Yes." Overlord said.

"Then… can you turn into Max?" Raven asked. "Only… maybe when he was a little younger?"

"Certainly."

Raven smiled.

###

"You could have been like a daughter to me." Anastasia hissed as she blocked Marianna's attack with her gun.

"I already had parents who cared for me." Marianna snapped. "You were just an annoyance."

She was slowly pushing Anastasia back, away from Nero and Raven and Nyss, towards Otto. She caught his eye and winked.

Otto nodded once.

"Loading seventy percent complete." added H.I.V. .

"Yes, parents who left you to die in the street." Anastasia snarled.

"They knew what they were doing." Marianna snapped, forcing Anastasia another few steps back. Valentine suddenly noticed Otto. She stared to move forward towards him, but it was already too late. Otto stepped forward and shot Anastasia in the back.

Anastasia slumped forward, nearly landing on Raven. Nero shoved her out of the way. He was now rocking Raven back and forth like she was a child.

"Loading eighty percent complete." H.I.V. declared.

Otto took a step towards Marianna. "Now that's she's out of the way…" the woman said slowly.

Valentine took a step back. "H.I.V. ! Divert all power to uploading!"

With one hand she grabbed something from her pocket and held it in front of her. "You can't touch me with this!"

"And… a magical black box is going to do what, exactly?" Marianna demanded.

"It's a force field." Valentine hissed.

"Ninety percent complete."

"I don't have time for this crap." Marianna declared. She rushed over to one of the computer monitors and punched through the screen. Valentine frowned.

"You think that's going to help?" she demanded.

Marianna destroyed another monitor. And another. "It might. Who knows? Who cares? It's fun to smash stuff."

Otto frowned.

"Come on, help me!" She kicked through another.

"Loading one hundred percent complete…" H.I.V. 's voice grew quieter, then cut off entirely as Marianna ripped away another monitor.

"What are you doing?" Valentine screamed as Marianna hurled it at her. Reflexively, she ducked, and the device fell from her hands. Quickly, Otto tackled Valentine to the ground, one arm around her throat. Valentine gasped. "ACTIVATE! Activate the file, damn you!"

"You shouldn't have made it load for so long." Marianna pointed Otto's gun at Valentine's head. "Now, I was going to save you… but now I have to kill you as you killed my mum and that pisses me off."

"Activating." chirped H.I.V. .

Marianna collapsed onto her stomach.

"Assert control… over subject MNero!" Valentine gasped. "And… OMalpense!"

Otto felt the gun slip from his hand and then he stood up of his own accord.

"Now shoot her… and then shoot yourself." Valentine said.

"Never." Nyss whispered, standing up. "That's not…" She tilted her head back and screamed. "NOT WHAT'S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!"

The room was filled with bright light and then sudden darkness.


	26. A Whole New Reality

_The girl's eyes were closed, her head resting on her chest, the picture of defeat. But Anastasia was not fooled and stayed a few feet away from Marianna Nero even though she was heavily restrained and chained to the wall. _

She's just a kid... the same age I was when I... no, don't think about that.

_She touched the cut on her forehead, now held together by a butterfly suture, where Marianna had hit her over the head with a lamp. "What are you trying to accomplish by running away, my little angel? The world is a scary place and there's no place for a ten year old assassin." She took a step closer. "The only place where you have a future is here."  
Marianna lifted her head slightly, glaring up at her with one eye, the other swollen shut. "At least there I would be free." she whispered, then spat blood in Anastasia's face. _

_Anastasia sighed. "Honestly, you believe that?" She sighed. "You could never escape anyway."_

_"Try me." Marianna hissed. _

_"There's a chip implanted in your left wrist. You wouldn't get far. I've learned a couple of lessons since your mother was here and I'm not as nice as I used to be..." Anastasia turned towards the door. "Pietor!"_

_Her brother appeared. _

_"Do whatever you want to her." Anastasia said brusquely. "Specifically, what you like to do to defenseless young girls."_

_Pietor laughed. _

_Anastasia left the room and sat outside, hugging herself as though she was cold. It felt strangely comforting, hearing Marianna scream._

_"Why did you tell her about the chip?" Furan asked when he finally emerged. "Now she'll never rest-"_

_"There is no chip." Anastasia said quietly. "I just want to see how far she'll go to escape..."_

_Slowly, sadly she watched through the one-way mirror as Marianna raised her wrist to her mouth and tore into it with her teeth._

###

Otto jerked awake. He was standing in the familiar hallways of the old school in front of a door. Not knowing what else to do, he opened it.

"I was down in Fort Worth, just a girl on the wing..." sang a low female voice from somewhere inside what appeared to be a locker room. He started towards the sound of running water. The singing continued. "When I met Tweet McFirth, oh, could that night owl song!" He could see the girl now, though the haze in the shower. She seemed to be about Raven's age, with long dirty blond hair and a gorgeous body. "Tell yourself... how lucky you are..."

Otto started backing off, but it was too late.

"We spent three- kyaaa!" She stopped as she saw him, then spun away from him. "Who the heck is it?!"

"Um... Otto?" Otto said. He was completely confused. What had happened? Had Nyss killed them or something?

"Oh!" She turned around. "Well in that case..."

She pressed herself against him and began to kiss him, sliding her arms around his waist. Otto frowned. He didn't even know who the girl was and yet she certainly knew him… He felt himself relax and slip his hands onto the girl's sides. She was swollen… pregnant? And pretty far along too.

"Oi! Malpense!"

He was ripped away from the girl by someone's strong arms. "Why the heck are you making out with my sister?!"

"Uh." said Otto, turning to see Raven. If possible, she seemed even grouchier here. And where exactly was _here_? "Where's Nero?"

"Nero?" Raven frowned. "He's in prison. He has been for years, Otto." He detected a faint note of pain in her voice.

"Nyss?"

"You were kissing her, idiot." Raven grunted.

"No, I mean Nyss! Your daughter!"

"I don't have any children and I certainly don't intend to." Raven said. He could sense that she was lying, though about what he didn't know. "You need to go help Laura right now!"

"Laura, right." Otto said.

"At least you remember her. Did you hit your head or something? Honestly?" Raven poked him in the forehead. By now she had dragged him back into the hallway and continued dragging him down it. She seemed to know where she was going… "Do you remember having seven kids with her? And that the Headmaster kidnapped her? And that right now he's making her pose in ridiculous clothes? While she gives birth?!"

"What?!" Otto spluttered.

"So I suggest _getting over there and helping her out!" _Raven hissed, giving him a shove towards a door.

Otto flung open the door. Laura was sitting on the lap of a man he didn't recognize but vaguely resembled Furan. He noticed off to the sidelines a group of at least a half dozen children, the youngest around nine months old and in the arms of the oldest, who looked like she was six. He ran towards Laura and shoved the man out of the way. Laura was pale and sweaty and she seemed to be bleeding all over the ridiculous clothes she was wearing. When she saw him her face relaxed, then turned into terror all over again as her body spasmed.

"It's okay." Otto said frantically as he took off her clothes. "Just take a deep breath…"

She clung to him. "Otto, you shouldn't be here! He'll kill our kids-"

"Laura, I love you and I'm not going to just abandon you." Otto said. He was completely and utterly confused but the one thing that seemed to not have changed was that Laura was in trouble.

The man took a step towards him as Laura screamed again. "What do you think you're doing-"

"Look, could you shut up and wait five minutes?!" Otto growled. "I'm a little preoccupied here."

Standing behind the man, Raven shook her head fervently but Otto ignored her and stroked Laura's hand. "Did you hear what I said?" he asked her in a gentle tone. "Just five minutes…"

Laura shook her head. "No, it's less then-" She screamed again and Otto squeezed her hand tightly, then scooped up her newborn baby.

He heard a click and turned around to see the man pointing a gun at his head. "Get away from Brand right now or-"

"No, don't!" Raven yelled, stepping in front of Otto. "Please don't… father!"


	27. Nyssa and Nyssa

Raven leaned forward and whispered something in the man's ear. Otto frowned. _Father?_

Raven was now conversing with the man in rapid Russian. The man frowned, then slapped her across the face. Raven took the blow unflinchingly, continuing to argue. After what felt like an infinite amount of time the man nodded. Raven smiled very slightly, then grabbed Otto's arm and dragged him out the door, still holding Laura who was holding their baby.

"Now explain to me what the hell is going on." Raven spat. "You aren't Otto, are you? Does he have a twin?"

"No." said Otto. He looked at Raven more closely. There was something off about her but he couldn't place it. "Um…"

"So are you from the future or the past?" Raven demanded.

Otto frowned. _That's not what is supposed to happen!_ Nyss had repeated over and over again. So… "I'm from an alternate reality." He said. "I… think. Because just a few hours ago your sister was dead and you and Nero were married and had like seven kids. So… yeah."

"Right." Raven said. "So how do we send you back?" She seemed completely unfazed by Otto's pronouncement.

"Well… the problem is that the person who sent me here doesn't exist in this world, because you don't have any children." Otto said. He frowned. "Not even Marianna?"

"No… I've never even…" Raven flushed. "I haven't… you know."

Otto then saw what was different- her cheek. She had no scar.

"Can you tell me what happened in this world?" Otto asked. "Maybe that would help…"

"I suppose, but we'd better go back to my room." Raven said.

That was one thing that hadn't changed. Her room was just the same as before when he'd first met Nyss and Adrian, only instead of the picture of Nyss and Raven there was a picture of Raven and Nero. Raven noticed him staring at it and glared at him. "Sit down."

Laura, who had been following with a glazed expression on her face, pulled Otto down onto the floor and sat in his lap. Her shoulders were shaking.

"Okay, so… where do you want me to start?" Raven asked.

"With your parents." Otto said.

"Well… my dad's Alexei Furan and my mum's Penelope Metuendus." Raven said slowly. "My dad murdered my mum after Nyss was born because he wanted her to be a boy. He got his sister and brother to work for him, and they trained me and sent me to destroy G.L.O.V.E. one member at a time. When I was twenty he sent me after Max." Raven started twisting the edge of her sleeve. "I couldn't kill him… so Father just decided to take over instead. And… yeah…"

"What about Anastasia and Pietor?" Otto asked. "And Wing and Shelby?"

"Wing and Shelby? They're just regular students here…. Anastasia died in childbirth and Pietor's off doing something… Alexei doesn't like him much."

"She died in childbirth? Then did her baby survive?"

Raven shook her head.

"And Nyss? Who's Nyss's boyfriend? She's pregnant, isn't she?"

"That would be you, genius." Raven snapped.

Laura's eyes widened in shock as she grabbed his leg. "What?"

"I'm sorry… I don't know anything about this…" Otto kissed the top of her head. "I'm… really sorry…"

"So you have to get back?" Raven said. She was staring down at the picture of her and Nero. "And to do that you need… someone?"

"Yeah, your daughter, Nyss." Otto said. "You named her after your sister…"

"My daughter?" Raven demanded. Something flashed through her eyes that Otto didn't like. "So… if she exists then you can go home?"

"Yes, but-"

Raven whirled around and ran from the room.

Otto sighed. _She's just as stubborn and annoying in this world…_

###

"Where are you going?!"

Raven stopped in her tracks. It was her sister. She was holding her sketchbook in one hand and her markers in the other.

"To… to see Max." Raven stammered. "I… I…"

"Your plan's not going to work." Nyss said. She clenched the sketchbook tighter. "Even if this other Nyss is created in this world… she might not be the same as she was with Otto."

"But… but I want-"

"Then not like this." Nyss sighed. "Anyway… I have a plan."

###

Nyssa Nero sat curled up in the darkness waiting for the next flash of light as another possibility was created. It hurt when that happened. Her head ached. She could see everything and she didn't want to. She hated this place. She wished she could just close her eyes and rest, if only for a second…

"Hello."

Nyss looked around to see another girl with dirty blond hair leaning over next to her. "How did you get here? You… you can't be here…"

"I have the same powers as you, Nyssa." said the girl. "Along with the same. And I will help you."

"You can save me?"

"Yes." said the girl quietly. "I can save you. But first… you have to help Otto Malpense."

"But how? I can only see it, I can't do anything to change it…"

"You draw pictures of things that are going to happen, right?" The girl set down a sketchbook and markers on Nyss's lap.

"Yes… that's how it works." Nyss whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Yes but…" The girl leaned closer. "What if it's the other way around?"

"What do you mean?'

"Draw a picture," Nyss said. "and we'll see."

**Oh, and the song Nyss was singing last chapter is called How Lucky You Are and it's from the musical Seussical… which is the reason why this chapter is slightly late as I was in it this weekend…**


	28. Saying Goodbye

**I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing Alternate Dimension Raven and Nyss again... maybe in the next story. (Yes, there is going to be a next story)**

Raven sighed as Nyss walked away. As usual, her little sister misunderstood. Then again, she had been lying to almost everyone. Everyone except her beloved Max…

She turned away from Nyss and towards the empty closet in front of her. She pulled the key from her pocket and carefully unlocked it.

"Luka." she called. "Mommy's back…"

###

Nero smiled down at the tiny screen filled with the image of Raven and his son. "How are you doing?"

"Well, it seems that Otto's switched places with Otto from an alternate reality." Raven yawned. "Oh, and Laura had her baby and found out that Otto was sleeping with Nyss."

"Really." Nero shrugged. "Well, we knew it was going to happen at some point."

"Yeah well." Raven pulled Luka closer to her. "Those two are just plain trouble." She ruffled Luka's hair. "This one is too…"

"Well he's got to be bored locked up all alone." Nero said.

"H.I.V. looks after him." Raven said. "He's perfectly fine."

"He's a little boy, Raven. He needs you, not a computer."

"I can't!" Raven said, leaning away slightly. "I can't- Father would _kill_ me if he found out- literally. And Luka. And you, for being the father."

"He's planning to kill me anyway." Nero said. "In fact I'm quite astonished that I'm still alive. If I were him I'd have killed me-"

"He says he still needs you for something-"

The door to the room suddenly burst open and Raven screamed as a bullet went straight through her hand and into the screen of her blackbox.

"So this is what you've been hiding." Alexei said, digging the gun into her chest. "Foolish girl. I expect the ex-headmaster is behind this-"

Raven grabbed the gun from his hand and shot her father in the head.

She kicked his body aside and grabbed Luka. _From now on… I say _I'm_ in charge._

###

"You want to do the shading more like _this._" the other Nyss said, grabbing her hand with the marker in it. "That way the highlights show up better."

"Oh." Nyss tried to act grateful but secretly she was a bit annoyed that the other Nyss was being so bossy. This was a plan to save her friends, not a drawing lesson. "Thanks…"

The other Nyss stood up. "So… just color in all the blood and you're done."

_Gaaaah._ Nyss thought.

###

Otto stopped when he saw Nyss rushing towards him. She was carrying a large square object wrapped in brown paper.

"We can get you home, Otto." she said.

"Really?" He took the thing from her, unable to hide his eagerness. He unwrapped it. It was a drawing of the scene before he had come to this world- Raven in Nero's arms, Marianna and him on the floor, Valentine standing over them, shattered computer monitors everywhere. Otto stared at it.

"Good luck." He heard Nyss say as the world began to swim. "Good luck, Otto Malpense… and good bye."

###

Otto felt the gun slip from his hand and then he stood up of his own accord.

"Now shoot her… and then shoot yourself." Valentine said.

"Never." Nyss whispered, standing up. "That's not…" She tilted her head back, but Otto grabbed her hand.

"Shh…" he whispered. "I'll handle this."

Valentine blinked. "But why aren't you under my control?"

"Because…. well, it's a long story-" Otto started.

The door to the control room suddenly opened and Penelope appeared.

"Valentine Nero." she said. "You have betrayed orders. You are no longer of use to the Disciples."

Then she shot her through the heart.

Nero turned. "Who are you?"

But Penelope was already gone.

Otto stood up and slowly staggered over towards one of the few remaining computer monitors, clicked on the mind control program, and quickly pressed 'delete'. "There." He muttered.

"I'm going to send a message to Laura to come on back." Marianna said. "I would like to meet my brothers and sisters."

"Yeah, speaking of which what's going to happen with, um, Laura and Nero's baby?" Otto said, turning back to Nero and Raven. "Do you want custody of her-"

He turned around sharply.

"Really?" Marianna said. "A- don't do stuff like that in public, b- you know Raven's dead, right?"

Nero did not answer.

Marianna walked over to him and yanked Raven's corpse away from him. "Good grief. Knock it off, you disgusting old man."

Nero stood up. "Give her back!" he screamed.

"_No._" Marianna said firmly. "We need to arrange her funeral- her and Shelby and Wing's, and we've got to do _something _with Anastasia and Valentine's bodies."

"She- she's…" Zach coughed.

"I'm… still alive." Anastasia murmured from the corner. "Ow."

"And we need to clean up this gigantic mess." Marianna looked around distastefully. "Honestly, who's idea was it to smash as many computer monitors as possible?"

Otto decided not to say anything. He felt someone take his hand, and turned to see Nyss standing next to him, crying silently.

He squeezed her hand and said nothing.

###

Cami began to cry just as Laura finished dressing Fin. She walked over towards her but before she vould get there, a hand brushed her shoulder.

Over the past four days her memory had slowly been returning. She remembered Fin and Alice, wherever she was, and Otto and how wonderful he was and they were extremely happy to see each other again, so happy that they believed her to now be pregnant with his baby. Nero's memory returning had the opposite effect on him and he had sunken into a depressed solitude. Besides, they were both avoiding each other so it was peculiar that he was now in her bedroom.

"Hey." He muttered.

"Hi." Laura shifted uncomfortably, then looked him in the eye. "I'm really, really sorry about-"

"No." He picked up Cami and started rocking her back and forth. "You don't have to apologize. I'm not… well… after today I'll never see Raven again, will I?"

Laura tugged at the edge of her long black skirt. "Er…. Yeah… Um…"

"Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?" He sighed. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay." He set Cami in her arms. "I'm going to go interrogate Anastasia before the funeral, okay?"

"O-okay."

"I really just don't want to say… goodbye." He said under his breath as he left.


	29. Ashes and Cinders

**Maturity warning on Anastasia/Alexei stuff…**

Nero came over towards Anastasia, who was sitting slumped in the chair in the edge of her cell. "Why are you doing this?" she choked out.

"Because you _killed Natalya._" Nero spat, grabbing the back of her chair and leaning down at her.

"Just kill me then." Anastasia whispered. "Just please- don't make me relive it again- I can't- I'll do _anything-_"

"The one thing I want is my wife back." Nero turned towards the Professor. "Turn it on again, will you?"

He walked away as Anastasia slid off the chair and let out a childlike wail, clawing at things only she could see. He stood next to Professor Pike, crossing his arms.

"I think making her relive her worst memories a dozen times in a row is a bit harsh." the Professor said weakly.

"She killed Natalya." Nero whispered.

"Do you even know what she's seeing? What she went through?"

"No, and I don't really care-"

"When she was ten her older brother started regularly beating and raping her." the Professor said very quickly. "Her mother was dead and when her father found out he just laughed. By the time she was twelve Alexei was grown up and running the Glasshouse and she was pregnant with his baby. Two days before she gave birth he attacked her and hurt her so badly she went into labor. He then completely destroyed her reproductive system and burned her baby alive while she watched. She learned she could never have children again afterwards. She put up with him until she was twenty and then… when she saw how he was treating her daughter she snapped and killed him."

"She still killed-"

"Yes, but she's not entirely to blame." Professor Pike said softly.

"So your saying Natalya shouldn't have detested the woman who forced her to murder her friends?!" Nero snarled.

"No." The Professor sighed. "But if you make her go through that simulation one more time you'll shatter that poor woman's mind."

They made eye contact for a few moments.

"Put her through it again." Nero said.

Professor Pike nodded.

###

Em's face was buried in the scratchy fabric of Nyss's black dress. Nyss rested her head gently on Em's as the small girl sobbed.

Meghan cooed from her car seat, too little to understand what was going on. The only people there were Raven's family, Otto and Laura and their family, Fledge. It upset Nyss a little that so few people knew, so few people cared that her mother was gone.

Laura took her hand and squeezed it. Nyss was suddenly struck by a thought. "Where are your parents, Laura?"

"I don't know… I haven't seen them in a few years. My mum was pretty mad that I got married and had Alice so young and then there was all that Valentine stuff." Fin sneezed and Laura ruffled his hair. "And Otto hasn't got any parents."

Nyss was silent for a moment. They were back on the island with the volcano where H.I.V.E. had originally been located to burn Raven's body for some reason… She supposed that Nero was feeling sentimental and it didn't take a genius to know why.

She looked down at her mother's still face. She was wearing a high-collared ivory dress with lacey trim. Nyss hated it. She clutched the bag she was holding closer to her.

Nero came towards her. "What's that?"

"N-nothing." Nyss mumbled.

"I wanna see!" Em yelled, grabbing for the bag. Nyss tried to snatch it away but it was too late and dozens of sheets of paper spilled out.

Nero picked several up. "Nyss?" he asked quietly, pointing to the paper.

Nyss's shoulder's shook.

On the papers were dozens of drawings of Raven.

"I tried to bring her back." Nyss whispered. "I tried so hard…"

Nero smiled sadly. "Come here." he said, pulling her into his arms as Nyss burst into tears.

###

Zach woke up screaming Raven's name.

"She's dead." said the man in the bed beside her.

"No she's not!" Zach sat up slowly. "When I switched her into the clone's body I built in a fail-safe to help her come back! I have to get her to the laboratory so they can activate it!"

"Her funeral is today."

"Then we have to get there!" Zach tried to get up but his head had begun to spin. "We have to stop Nero-"

"You are far too weak."

Zach flopped back down onto the pillows. "Are they burying her?"

"No."

Zach buried his head in his hands. "Natalya…" he moaned. "Why did you marry such a fool?"

"She is in love with him."

Zach turned to the man. "Say... aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Wing closed his eyes as Shelby's face flashed through his mind. "I wish…" he murmured.

###

His time with Raven flashed through his mind as he dropped the torch onto her chest. When they'd first met. How he'd forced her to be his girlfriend. Marianna. His deal with her that he'd let them both live if Marianna was a girl. How he'd decided not to go back on his promise after Marianna had been born because he just couldn't. How as Marianna had grown he'd fallen in love with Raven. And then… that terrible night, Nyss's and Marianna's deaths, their horrible fight… and then waking up in the morning to find her gone.

Raising Blayze and Benn. Meeting up with Raven again with Gayle. Finding out she was pregnant. The battle at Zach's house. Her giving birth to Adrian in Overlord's arms. Gayle stabbing her in the back. Blayze slowly bleeding to death to keep her aunt alive. Nyss's birth. Marrying her. Living happily together, Nyss and Adrian a secret from the students. Until Malpense discovered it.

Then everything seemed to go wrong at once. Fighting over what was going to be Felix. The party- he still didn't know what had happened then- Raven coming home in tears with her shoulder burned. Then back home. Raven giving birth early. The attack. Her capture. He had her back for only a second before he murdered her in cold blood…

Leaving H.I.V.E. Putting Felix in Laura. Felix's birth. Life without Raven. Meeting her again. Pretending he hated her. Sending her away. Being captured. Losing control with Laura. Forgetting her. Then finding her again… and now…

Even Marianna moved closer to him, though she did not sob like her siblings as what had once been flesh and blood changed to bone and then finally, to ash.


	30. Nothing Left

Anastasia was sitting up against the wall sobbing quietly into her hands when Laura came in. She looked up. Her eyes were wild and red from crying and there was a cut on her forehead. She said something in Russian.

"Sorry, I don't understand." Laura said, continuing towards her.

"Who are you?" Anastasia whispered. "Another one of Dr. Nero's-"

"No." Laura sat down next to her. "I just came to visit."

Slowly, she laid Cami, still in funeral black, into Anastasia's arms.

"Oh." Anastasia whispered, her eyes wide. "_Ohhhh…_"

"Her name is Camile." Laura said. "But we call her Cami."

"Cami…" Anastasia breathed. "How… how old is she?"

"She'll be six weeks in a few days."

"So tiny…" Anastasia stroked Cami's soft blond head. "She's _soooo_ cute…"

"Yeah…" Laura said.

Anastasia looked up at her. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-two." Laura said, looking down at her knees.

"And she's your only daughter?"

"No, I have another daughter and I had twin boys but one died." Laura touched her stomach. "And I should have another in a bit…"

"Geez, that's a lot." Anastasia muttered.

"I know… my husband and I got married when we were really young-"

"WHAT THE CRAP DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Nero grabbed Laura's arm and wrenched her away from Anastasia, slamming her into the wall. Without thinking he slammed his fist into her jaw. Her head crunched into the wall and she fell forward, knocking him back as well. It was hard to think with her so close… and she was unconscious… defenseless… and she looked really cute in that blouse…

"Don't… don't touch her…" Anastasia whispered from behind him.

"Why should it matter what you think?" Nero snarled. "You're just a-" He frowned. "What are you doing with Cami?"

"I was just holding her…" Anastasia whispered as he dumped Laura on the floor and started towards her.

"How dare you touch my daughter?!" Nero bellowed, grabbing Cami from her arms. Cami began to scream, reaching for Anastasia with her tiny hands.

Nero grabbed Laura's wrist and pulled her to her feet "Come on you- wake up!"

Laura groaned but did not awaken. Nero suddenly had the terrible thought that he might have injured her badly. He glared at Anastasia. "We will continue this later."

Anastasia just stared at him as he tossed Laura over his shoulder and left the room.

###

Nero watched as Laura slowly opened her eyes. She sat up, stretched, rubbed the corner of her eyes, then snuggled back into the blankets and closed her eyes again.

_Natalya used to do that._

He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. Laura finally woke away up. "M… Max?"

"I carried you all the way here and it was easy." He set his chin on the top of her head. "God, you're _tiny."_

Laura blushed. "I know, I wish I was taller but I-"

"No, you're really cute this way." Nero mumbled.

"Dr. Nero… did anything happen while I was asleep?"

"No… I just held you, that's all." Nero sighed. "And what were you thinking, letting Anastasia near Cami?! She could have killed her!"

"She wouldn't have… you saw her face. She was totally in love with Cami. I was… thinking about maybe letting her look after Cami for a while… maybe it'll help her."

"Help her? She doesn't need help!"

"She would be a really helpful ally." Laura pointed out.

"But I don't want to be allies with her! I want to break her! I want to make her pay-"

"No." Laura stood up. "You just want Natalya back, don't you?"

"Yeah." Nero said. He walked over towards where Cami was sleeping and placed her in her mother's arms. "Yeah I do… listen, you should go back to Otto. He'll be really worried about you." He smiled sadly. "He'll take good care of you."

"Max…" Laura shifted anxiously from foot to foot. "I'm really sorry about Raven- if you really want me to I can stay here- I really don't-"

"No, it's not fair for you. I'm not ever going to touch you again, Laura." Nero patted the top of Cami's head. "She… she wouldn't want me to… well…"

"Okay… bye, then." Laura said. She smiled, waved, and then…

"Gee, I wonder how long _that_ promise is going to last." Marianna said sarcastically.

"Thanks." Nero grunted. He looked over at his oldest daughter. "Do you have any idea why Zach suddenly hates me now?"

"What?!" Marianna was suddenly red-faced. "Why would I know anything about Zach?! I don't even like Zach! Not that I hate him or anything-"

"Never mind." Nero glanced at the papers in his eldest daughters arms. "What's that?"

"Autopsy report." Marianna thrust it at him. "Hers."

Nero looked it over. "So? Seems to be normal-"

"Where she was hit." Marianna said. "I was trained by Anastasia and Pietor and I know- where she was hit it wouldn't have killed her. Not that fast. If she'd lost more blood she would have but… something happened, Max."

"Someone killed her?"

"Yes…" Marianna said slowly. "Someone… or some_thing…_"

"_Overlord._" Nero hissed.

"And Overlord… he wouldn't have killed her." Marianna said. "I bet he took her. I bet he put her somewhere safe."

Nero laughed humorlessly. "Don't be ridiculous." He pulled out a silver egg-shaped locket from inside his shirt and opened it. Inside was a small pile of ash. "This is all that's left of her now…"

###

Overlord watched Raven as she squinted down at the recipe in the cookbook. Pretty soon she would no longer be able to remember what was real and what belonged to the imaginary world he had created for her.

_She and I will stay her together… for eternity. _

Suddenly Raven cried out. Overlord turned towards her. She had one finger in her mouth and had dropped the knife on the floor after cutting herself.

He slid his arms around her. "Let me see." he murmured.

She held out her finger. He waved his hand over it and the cut vanished. "See? All better."

Raven smiled. "Thank you, Max."

"Natalya." he said, faking confusion. "Who Is Max?"

Raven frowned.

"I-I don't know." She shrugged. "Whoever he is... he must not be too important to me…"


	31. A Peculiar Discussion

**Three months later…**

Em pulled the straw out of her glass, sucked all the water out of it, then stuck it back in and flicked it at her sister across from her. Nyss glared at Em. "Knock at off."

Felix looked up from the book he was reading as droplets of water sprayed across the page. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." snapped Nyss, wiping the page off with a napkin. "Go back to… whatever you were doing."

Felix blinked. "Okay."

Nero sighed. "It was not a good idea to take the kids out to eat."

"Why, because Em is spazzy, Nyss is grouchy and Felix is completely out of it?" Marianna yawned. "You should know your own kids. They're always like this."

"They have a better life with Laura and Otto and the others." Nero said. "There isn't really a place for them at H.I.V.E…. but they'll go to school there, of course, when they're old enough." He took a sip of water. "How are Laura and Otto anyway?"

Marianna smirked. "_Laura_ is just fine, or as fine as you could expect someone to be after a miscarriage."

"Is she okay?" Nero asked, trying to keep his voice natural.

"I just said she was fine, didn't I?" Marianna said, rolling her eyes. "And yes, she and Otto are still in full on honeymoon mode."

Nero winced. "Are they going to have more kids?"

"Why do you care so much about whether or not Laura is having s-"

"Shush, I don't want the kids to hear." Nero snapped.

"I'm not a kid anymore." Nyss said, rolling her eyes. "I'm twelve years old."

Nero glared at her. "You still look like one."

"Well thanks a _lot._" Nyss muttered, poking gloomily at her chest.

"Anyway, what's this I heard about you and Anastasia?" Marianna asked, smirking.

"What do you mean?" Nero said, looking away from his daughter.

"Is she your new girlfriend?" Marianna asked sweetly.

"No." Nero grunted.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

Marianna leaned forward. "Then _why_ is she pregnant?"

"Because she gave us a bunch of information." Nero snapped. "So Zach did some tech stuff, and now she's going to have a baby. That's it."

"And the father…"

"That would be me."

"So she _is_ your girlfriend."

"No, she isn't!"

"What are you going to do after she has her baby?"

"She'll be executed directly after she has it." Nero said.

"What?"

"She's given us all the information she has." Nero said. "She is useless now… so we might as well kill her."

"But she's finally going to have a kid." Marianna said. "She'll be on your side… Besides, she sort of looks like Natalya and she's pretty… I'd have thought you'd have seized the opportunity."

"I guess it's been okay, having her around... she doesn't talk at all anymore… she just sort of follows me around. I guess she's more like a pet then anything…"

"Great, then keep her around, damn it." Marianna muttered.

"Why does everyone care so much about Anastasia?!" Nero growled. "All she did was go through some bad stuff before she became a murderer! So did Raven! Why is everyone on her side?!"

"Stop yelling." Marianna said, sounding bored.

"I am not yelling!" Nero yelled.

"Shhhhh!" hissed Felix.

"Sorry." Nero muttered.

"See, I know why Daddy's pissed off." said Em happily. "He has a biiiiiiig crush on this Angel lady, but he won't admit it to himself so now he's even grouchier then he was before."

Nero glared at Em. "Emilee…."

Marianna snickered. "Did you just call Anastasia Furan an angel?"

"Her name's too long."

"She is most certainly _not_ one." Nero muttered darkly.

"If Daddy likes her, she must be nice." Em said. "Like Mommy."

This got a laugh from Marianna, Nero and Nyss.

"Auntie Laura and Uncle Otto are much nicer then you are." Em said happily.

"Thank you, Em." Nero muttered.

"Why am I named Marianna anyway?" Marianna wondered out loud. "Isn't that Italian?"

"See, _this_ is why I sent you off to go and live with Otto and Laura." Nero grunted.

"Max!"

Nero felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see Laura standing behind him wearing a soaking wet white t-shirt.

"Can I please borrow your jacket?" Laura said. "My bra… kind of shows through my shirt when it's wet…"

"Yes… I can see that…" Nero said.

"You're staring at her chest." Marianna said.

Laura crossed her arms over herself self-consciously. "Um… I…"

"Here." Nero said, pulling off his jacket. "Why are you all wet, anyway?"

"It's raining!" Laura said. She looked tiny and adorable in his jacket, the way Natalya always had. "I didn't think it was going to rain… so I-"

"Never mind that." Marianna said, giving Nero a look that clearly meant_ Stop thinking dirty thoughts, you annoying old man. _"You came for the kids, huh?"

"Yes… yes I did." Laura said, flushing.

"And we are ready to go!" Em bellowed.

"Shh, sweetheart." Laura said, picking Em up. "Ooof, you're getting too big for this…"

"More like you're getting smaller." Nero whispered. "And more adorable."

Marianna kicked him under the table.

###

Serena sat on the edge of the bed braiding the hair of the doll she was holding.

"Are you happy, Serena?" Penelope asked. "I killed Valentine for you."

"Yes, Mommy, very happy." Serena smiled. "I'm glad you know what's good for you and listen. I have a present for you, too…"

The door opened and a man entered. He had dirty blond hair and the same piercing blue eyes as his oldest daughter and siblings.

"Hello, Metuendus." said Alexei Furan lazily. "It's been a while…"


End file.
